


The Celestial Spirit

by bluebirdeyes



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Ace Spectrum Characters, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Background Gajevy, Background Mirafraxus, Childhood Trauma, F/M, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Secret Identity, Vigilantism, Violence, the tags make it sound really intense haha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-22 02:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 85,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3712036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebirdeyes/pseuds/bluebirdeyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Natsu saw the legendary vigilante known as The Celestial Spirit, his life flashed before his eyes. But only days later, he saw her as an irreplaceable ally: Lucy. Two criminals of differing stature meet by chance, conquer evil by necessity, and save the world by the orders of fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated T for language, violence, and eventual discussion (but not explicit portrayal) of mature topics. I may change the rating to M if I decide to be more graphic in my depictions of things. Content/trigger warnings will be in the notes on the chapters they apply to, for anyone who needs them.

She was ethereal.

Bathed in the light of the stars, mist swirling at her feet, a great white wolf by her side. Natsu knew immediately whom he was looking at. The Celestial Spirit, they called her, as if she were one of the otherworldly beings she could summon to her aid. The beautiful girl chosen by Canis Minor. A legend among outlaws.

And bad news for a petty criminal like Natsu Dragneel.

"Fuck." He scrambled to his feet. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck."

The Celestial Spirit lifted a hand, pointing a black object at him. Then magic breathed into it, and it took the form of a whip.

Ohhhh shit. Not good.

Natsu turned and ran. As much as he loved a good fight, if the rumors were true, she was not a battle he could win. Beautiful, powerful, and unforgiving toward evildoers. Not that Natsu thought of himself as particularly evil, but apparently stealing from villagers put him in that category.

He sprinted down the street, resisting the urge to use flames to propel his speed. The houses were all made of wood, and the last thing he needed to do was anger her even more by accidentally burning the whole city down.

He took a quick survey of his location. He knew this town well, and nearby there was a mansion belonging to a high government official. Not the kind of place Natsu ever saw himself going, but that man was known for having lavish weekend parties that lasted until morning. The Celestial Spirit wouldn't make a big fuss in front of all those people, right?

He rounded the corner, stumbling to keep from losing his foot, and ran for the mansion gates. The guard was asleep. Perfect.

He ran straight for the gate and leapt at it, hitting it with a loud clang. The guard snapped awake, but it was too late; Natsu had already climbed to the top of the gate and was leaping to the ground on the other side. He ran for the bushes.

"Hey!" the guard shouted. "Stop! Intrud— urk!"

"Virgo!"

"Yes, Princess."

She was following him in. Not good, not good. He had no choice but to run further into the estate toward the glowing lights of the mansion itself.

But he could only run so far before the huge mansion swallowed him, and he found himself cornered against a wall, surrounded on all sides except for the way he came. He thought this was the edge when he rounded the corner, but he'd thought wrong. This mansion was even bigger than he'd predicted.

Fuck.

He turned around, confirming with his eyes the presence of the Celestial Spirit behind him. She was alone now, no spirits in sight, whip in her hand and keys dangling at her hips. Natsu swallowed heavily. He was done for.

"Who's there?" A loud voice called out across the courtyard, and more shouts soon followed. Had Natsu ran by the party? Just his luck. Soon this place would be swarming with dignitaries and guards.

The Celestial Spirit seemed to realize this too, because her head turned toward the voices, alarmed.

"Shit," Natsu muttered, reaching his hand forward. He grabbed the girl's slender wrist and pulled her with him into a thick stand of bushes. He put a finger to his lips. "Shh." She stared back at him wide-eyed. Her whip dissolved back into nothingness.

"Who's there?" the voice repeated, louder. A large group of people came into view, led by the one Natsu recognized as the local government official. The rest he didn't recognize, but judging by their uniforms, they were of even higher rank. He hadn't heard of the military generals and palace officials coming into town. What were they doing here in secret?

"I thought you said there would be high security tonight," said a man who appeared to be a royal councilman.

The host looked nervous. "I assure you, I assigned my best guards on duty…"

Natsu bit back the urge to laugh. The so-called "best guard" on duty at the gate had been napping.

"…so there is an intruder, my men will find them. Animal or human, they will be dead shortly."

"Better safe than sorry," the councilman said. "Men, fan out and search."

"Yes, sir!" His personal guards ran out into the night, thankfully presuming the courtyard already empty. They were safe for now.

"I'll get the guards back in the meeting room on it, too. Can't be too sure."

"Of course, sir."

"Let's go back. My men will be able to take care of any problems."

As the officials retreated back indoors, all muttering to themselves, Natsu glanced around nervously. The local official's guards were negligible, but a royal councilman was likely to have some good men on his side. If they wanted to get out of here…

They. It wasn't him alone out here. He glanced at his companion, who thankfully seemed to have dropped the issue of capturing him. Perhaps it would be an issue once they were both back in safety, but for now, Natsu was glad this woman was no longer running after him.

She was distracted staring after the nobles, so Natsu took the opportunity to observe her. As legend stated, she was indeed a beautiful girl, seemingly around his age. The loose golden hair around her face shifted in the breeze, brushing over her cheek. Her clothing was minimal but decorative, a blue and yellow top and skirt. It was shoulderless, but she still wore sleeves tied to her upper arms. Natsu didn't really see the point, but then again, he wasn't in any place to criticize someone else's style.

She finally noticed him staring, and he realized it probably seemed like he was checking her out. He quickly averted his gaze to avoid meeting hers.

"I'm staying here. You go."

He'd no sooner turned his head away than he turned it right back. "Eh?"

Her eyes were trained on the light that spilled across the lawn, shadows of the noblemen shifting around in it. "I know those men." She stood up to leave their cover, but he grabbed her arm to pull her back."

"Wait," he said.

She sat down impatiently. "What is it? Do you want me to take care of you first? If you're feeling left you, don't be; I was planning to find you again later even if you ran away."

"That's not it," Natsu said. His shoulders tensed. "It's not safe." He just knew those guards would come back around. It was strange that they hadn't seen any besides those few the councilman had sent out. Moving hiding spots would jeopardize whatever luck had kept them hidden so far, and Natsu didn't want to be the one who caused the Celestial Spirit to be captured.

"I'll be fine," she insisted, wrenching herself from his grasp. She stood up, put a hand on her keys, and ran.

Natsu watched her go for a moment, and his feeling of unease only increased. Instinct was already kicking in. He couldn't just not follow her.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath, sprinting after her.

She was surprised to find him behind her as she leapt onto the low roof that covered a darkened patio. "Why are you following me?" she hissed.

Natsu didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer, honestly. He didn't always think before he acted, and how he was wondering why he'd felt so compelled to follow her. There was probably some subconscious reason. Or maybe it was just his idiocy kicking in. Lisanna had always blamed idiocy for his impulsive actions.

Lisanna. He'd remembered Lisanna again. He swallowed the name like a lump in his throat and hurried on. This was not the time for memories, either.

The Celestial Spirit leapt gracefully onto the roof and he followed after her, sneaking along the tile until they reached a skylight that shown down into the occupied room. Natsu glanced around the roof, but still no sign of any guards. Strange. He had a bad feeling about this.

"It's too quiet," he whispered. "Something's wrong."

She glared at him. "I know. If you're worried, then leave."

"But I'm already here," he said.

She let out an exasperated sigh and pulled out one of her keys. "Open the gate of the crab, Cancer," she whispered, drawing the key through the air. Natsu watched in amazement as a man materialized before them. So this dark man with red cornrows and…were those crab legs sprouting from his back? So this was a celestial spirit. A real one. Natsu had never seen summoning magic before, and it was almost hard to believe that this man had appeared out of thin air, even though he'd seen it with his own eyes.

"Need something?" Cancer asked, ignoring Natsu's presence.

"I know it's a long shot, but is there any way you can cut a hole in the roof somewhere so I can hear what they're saying?"

Cancer looked around and slowly shook his head. "I imagine you do not want to be discovered. Anything I do with these materials will make noise and draw attention."

The woman sighed, pursing her lips.

Natsu leaned forward hesitantly. "I might be able to help," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "How?"

Natsu reached a hand forward toward the skylight. He peered down through the window, eyes scanning over the officials gathered below. They were all paying close attention to whatever muffled voice was speaking. Good. Natsu concentrated his magic onto a small spot at the corner of the glass until it began to melt.

"Cancer, gate closed," the girl hissed, and with another swipe of her key, the man was gone.

After a few more moments of careful heat distribution to make sure none of the melting glass dripped down below, Natsu let his magic cool. Turning to his companion, he whispered, "Be careful, it's still hot."

Seeming not to heed his warning, she leaned down toward the tiny melted hole, bring her ear close. Natsu also perked up his hearing to listen in on the conversation happening below.

"…ese things take time. The king is a very suspicious person."

"Councilman, you're also close to the king. Do you agree?"

"I'm afraid I must concur with his position."

"But he has begun to trust me more fully, so I should be able to speed things along soon."

"That would be much appreciated, sir."

"So we will make progress soon. Seven will be glad to hear."

Wait, Seven? As in, the country of Seven? What was all this talk about the king and other countries? Natsu didn't like the sound of this secret meeting.

"Of course. I have it all under control. But there is one thing I need from your side."

"Which is?"

"It will look suspicious if I get close to the king only to grab for more power. Someone unrelated will need to make the suggestion."

"And you wish for me to do it?"

"You are on the magic council. It would carry the most weight."

"What about Magnolia instead?"

"Magnolia is still too unstable," said a voice Natsu recognized as the ruling magistrate. "It's all I can do to keep the criminal population overrunning the whole town. And all those mages, too. It's a real headache."

Natsu snickered, drawing a glare from his fellow eavesdropper. But he knew exactly whom that man was complaining about with regards to Magnolia. And he was glad to hear they were such a thorn in the magistrate's side.

"Need help with that?"

"I have it under control. But I wouldn't want the king to think I'm focusing on the wrong issues."

"Fine. Then I will make the suggestion. We should discuss the specifics privately. Councilman, you too. You know the royal family best."

"Of course. And one last thing for the local magistrates before we get down to business."

"There's something else?"

"I'm afraid so. You see, our Lord has—"

Natsu was yanked away from the skylight just in time to escape a dark shape that emerged from the darkness. As the girl pulled him across the rooftop, the shape followed them, and more kept appearing. It took a moment for Natsu to realize how he hadn't noticed them earlier; they were shadows.

"Shadow magic," he muttered.

"Hurry," the Celestial Spirit urged. "Unless you want to be killed." She reached for the keys on her belt, but Natsu stopped her.

"I'll take care of it," he said. "They won't know who I am, but you're easy to recognize. And they shouldn't know you were here."

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded once. She released Natsu and he turned to face the shadows. Flames lit around his fists. Ah, the familiar scent of his own singed clothing.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" he shouted, letting out a pillar of flames from his mouth. The shadows dissipated under his fire's strength. He could feel the flames bursting in his chest, just waiting to be released. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he taunted.

In response, several figures emerged from the darkness. They were real people this time, he could tell. All of them rushed toward him at once, and Natsu jumped up, letting his fiery energy propel him to great heights.

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Bringing his flaming fists together, he released an explosive inferno that destroyed the roof upon which the shadows stood. The guards fell down into the destroyed piece of the mansion, scrambling to keep from being buried by the rubble.

Returning to the ground, Natsu picked up his companion and ran.

"Hey," she protested, but didn't fight his hold.

"Just bear with it a moment. We gotta get outta here," Natsu said.

"I can run on my own."

"Once we get out of the gate, okay? Don't wanna waste time by stopping to put you down now."

Natsu ran through the gardens, leaving trampled plants in his wake. He knew he as leaving a trail, but there wasn't any time to cover up his tracks. After what felt like a mile or running, they finally reached the edge of the estate, the tall fence towering before them.

"Hold on tight," Natsu said, and the girl's grip dug into his shoulders. Releasing her from his own hold, he leapt at the fence, climbing up the decorative ironwork. At the top, he barely hesitated a moment before jumping to the ground.

"Aries!"

"I'm sorry!"

Natsu braced himself for impact, but instead a soft cushion awaited him at the bottom of the fall. Was this Aries' power? But by the time he put the Celestial Spirit down, the actual celestial spirit had already disappeared back through the gate. The Celestial Spirit put away her key.

"Where to next, Mister Bandit?" she asked, a hint of humor in her voice. Natsu wondered what expression he was wearing for her to sound so amused.

"Name's Natsu," he said. "And it's this way." Magnolia was only a few towns away, and it was their best bet at finding a safe place to hide from royal guards. That meeting had seemed very important and very secretive; they wouldn't let two intruders go easily.

"Natsu the Bandit, huh?"

"Actually it's just Natsu," he grumbled. Yeah, he was a thief, but it's not like he'd planned to make a living out of it.

"Okay. Just Natsu. I'm just Lucy."

Natsu nearly tripped. Had the legendary Celestial Spirit just told him her real name?

"Well, nice to meet'cha," Natsu said.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked.

"Magnolia." Natsu grabbed for her arm and caught her hand. "Come on, you're too slow. We just burned up a secret meeting with a bunch of government officials up to no good. I thought the great Celestial Spirit would have a better sense of danger than this."

She laughed out loud but didn't protest his comments. She just tightened her grip on his hand and matched his pace. Just like that, the unlikely allies ran for miles and miles into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

When they finally arrived breathless in Magnolia, it was nearly morning. Dawn peeked over the horizon, coloring everything in pale shades of blue.

“Welcome to Magnolia,” Natsu said, gesturing grandly to the town before them even as he struggled to catch his breath.

Lucy grinned. “Is this where the troublemakers live?” she asked, likely thinking of the officials’ earlier conversation.

“Wait,” Natsu said. “Do you know about Fairy Tail?”

She shook her head.

Natsu was suddenly very nervous. “Aw, man. They’re gonna kill me for bringing you here.”

“Who is?”

“Look, it’s just a refuge for scumbag good-for-nothings like me. So don’t go around beating people up, okay?”

“If you keep quiet about my identity, I agree.”

“You mean that you’re the—”

“Yes. Please. You saved me back there, and now you’re offering me shelter. I can’t just refuse it, given the situation we’re in. In return, I’ll just be an ordinary mage for a little while. Deal?”

“Got it. Deal,” Natsu said. They shook on it. “Ah, here it is,” he said. The Fairy Tail Tavern was sandwiched between a bunch of other buildings, towering over them at several stories high. Most taverns weren’t so large, let alone several stories, but Fairy Tail was a little special.

Natsu pushed through the doors. The familiar musty scent of alcohol and aging wood greeted Natsu as he breathed in the Fairy Tail air for the first time in a while. Nobody was in the main room, so he had Lucy sit down at the bar and hopped behind the counter.

“Want anything?” he asked, getting out some glasses.

“Just water, please.”

Natsu grinned. “Aw, come on. It’s on the house.”

Lucy shook her head. “Really, I’m just thirsty. Water is fine.”

Natsu began filling the glasses with ice. “Eh, I guess it’s for the best. I’m not much of a barkeep; mixing drinks is Mira’s job.”

“And just what do you think you’re doing?” They turned to see a woman in the doorway wearing only a black bra and shorts. Her hair was in a ponytail, but she pulled out the hairtie to let the silky brown curls cascade onto her shoulders. Natsu saw Lucy tense.

“I brought a guest,” he said quickly before Cana could get hostile. The last thing he needed was for Lucy to feel threatened and go all Celestial Spirit on them.

“You’ve never come back with a girl before,” Cana noted, sauntering over.

“Did you even sleep last night, Cana?” Natsu said, observing the beer mug in her hand.

“Nah, who’s got time for that?” Cana said. “I can sleep when I’m dead.” More like she’d sleep when the sun came up. “Anyway, who’s the girl?”

“My name is Lucy,” Lucy said, suddenly looking very shy.

“I’ll have you know that we run a respectable establishment,” Cana slurred. “A respectable. Establishment.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Lucy said quickly, looking a little bewildered.

Cana swirled her mug. “I can see it in your face. It’s in your eyes. You’re from a well-to-do family, am I right? Miss Celestial Spirit.”

Lucy started for a moment, but quickly recovered her composure. “Celestial mage, actually,” she muttered.

Cana grinned widely. “That ain’t what they call you.”

“I’m just a normal mage.”

“I’m not sure what you do counts as ‘normal.’ Lucy, was it?”

“Yes, please.”

“Lucy…?”

“Just Lucy.”

“How could you tell she was the Celestial Spirit?” Natsu said. Lucy had wanted to keep that a secret, but if it was that obvious, that deal they made might become worthless.

Cana shrugged. “Hard not to notice.”

Natsu knew what she was talking about. When Lucy had first appeared before him last night, he had known right away who she was. Even without the wolf, he would’ve known. There was just something about her.

Speaking of that wolf… “Hey, what happened to your animal?” Natsu said.

Lucy looked up. “Plue?” She jangled her keys. “He’s a celestial spirit, too. I sent him back for the time being.”

“Oh yeah, where’s Happy?” Cana said.

“Had to leave him behind. There were circumstances.” He glanced at Lucy, the reason he had to suddenly run in the first place. Happy would have noticed Natsu’s absence by now. Natsu was already planning to stop by Fairy Tail while he as in the area, so Happy would know to look for him here.

“Who’s Happy?” Lucy asked.

“Natsu’s cat.”

“My friend,” Natsu corrected.

Cana snorted. “I still can’t believe your best friend is a cat.”

“Happy’s not just a cat,” Natsu insisted.

“Whatever you say, idiot.”

“I don’t want to hear that coming from a drunk.”

“At least I’m a drunk who runs a tavern. What do _you_ do exactly?”

“I survive,” Natsu said, clenching his jaw. “Not everyone’s lucky enough to have a job.”

“Half of Fairy Tail ain’t got a regular job, but you’re the only vagabond. Why don’t you try calling this place home sometime, eh, Natsu?”

“Not until I find Igneel.”

“Whatever. Oh, and you should know that Erza’s coming back today.”

Natsu shivered. There was nothing he feared more in this world than Erza Scarlet.

“So, Lucy, what brings you here with Natsu?”

They looked at each other. Natsu shrugged. Lucy turned back to Cana.

“There were some circumstances.”

Cana clicked her tongue. “So it’s a secret for now, eh? Well, regardless, there’s nowhere for you to stay here. I mean, I’d love to welcome a new girl into the dorms, but there’s just too many of us there already. No spare rooms.” She added under her breath, “Though Erza takes up half of ‘em anyway.”

“It’s more than enough that you’re letting me rest here,” Lucy said.

“Oh, Cana,” Natsu said, “can you tell everyone that there might be soldiers or guards or whatever coming to look for us? We kinda blew up a mansion in the middle of an evil secret meeting.”

“You _what_?”

“What do you mean ‘we?’” Lucy said, scowling.

“Lucy, me and Happy have a place outside of town. No one really knows where it is, so we should be safe there. I don’t got an extra bed, but there’s plenty of space so we can find somewhere for you to sleep. Or if you don’t mind my hammock.”

Lucy smiled, a genuine smile that reached all the way to her eyes. “I’ll sleep on the floor if I have to. But having a roof over my head would be amazing. Thanks.” Wow. Her smile was pretty.

Natsu realized he was in a daze when Cana’s hand on his shoulder snapped him out of it.

“Good luck,” she whispered in his ear, and walked away laughing. Natsu knew he must be ten shades of red right now. But that unexpected smile of Lucy’s just wasn’t fair.

“Do you wanna rest here more or go back to my place and nap?”

Lucy hopped to her feet. “Let’s go. It’s been a long night and I’m exhausted. I’m sure you are, too.”

They left Fairy Tail behind for now. Natsu could check in with everyone else later, once he’d gotten some rest. He hadn’t felt so exhausted in a while, but a night of running and fighting and running some more had him ready to fall over. If it weren’t for Lucy, he’d have just fallen asleep at the bar, but he wasn’t about to leave her without a place to stay. He’d say it was out of the goodness of his heart, but really he was just afraid she’d turn on him.

“Home sweet home,” he said when they reached the cabin he shared with Happy in the woods. He fished a key out from between the floorboards and unlocked the front door. Inside, it was dusty and cluttered, but it smelled like home.

“Nice, uh, place,” Lucy said, gingerly stepping inside.

“Haven’t been back here in a while, so it’s a bit messy,” Natsu said.

“I see.” She looked disturbed, and he didn’t blame her. Yes, it was dusty, and there were random objects strewn everywhere. He wasn’t one for cleaning or organization even when he _was_ home. And he hadn’t been home in what, two years?

“Maybe it’s better if you sleep on the hammock,” Natsu said.

“Isn’t that your bed? But then where will you sleep?”

“The floor.” He stretched and sat down. “I don’t mind the dust. Hey, can you throw me a pillow?”

“Hm?” Lucy looked around. “Ah, here?” There was a small pile of pillows where he usually slept.

“Yeah. That’s my hammock. You can have it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Will you stop hesitating and just take it?” Natsu snapped.

“Okay, okay.”

“Happy’ll wake us up when he gets home, so don’t worry about sleeping in too late. Then I can introduce you to the Fairy Tail people.”

“That girl seemed…nice.”

“Cana? She’s an alcoholic. Well, I guess we’ve all got our issues which is why we’re there in the first place.”

“I take it that Fairy Tail is more than just a tavern.”

“To the people who go there? Yeah. It’s like a family.” Natsu lay back on the pillow Lucy had tossed him. “We all have our own reasons for finding refuge there. That dude in the secret meeting was right, though. We _are_ a bunch of troublemakers. For example, the city actually owns this land. They think this cabin is abandoned, which most of the time it is, but Happy and I always squat here so it’s basically our house. Can’t afford a real place, so this’ll have to do.” Natsu laughed to himself. He stretched his legs out straight and sprawled his arms out beside him. He wasn’t gonna lie, he did want his hammock, but he’d already let Lucy have it and he wasn’t about to take it back.

“Speaking of that meeting,” Lucy said, “what did you think of it?”

“It’s weird,” Natsu said immediately. “Something’s weird about them. The king, Seven, their Lord or whatever…”

“It makes me wonder which lord they were referring to, but they didn’t give a name. And if they’re conspiring against the king, and it’s international…”

“I didn’t even know there was a big government meeting there, and I was in that town for a while.”

“Stealing?”

“Surviving,” he emphasized.

“Looked like stealing to me.”

“‘S not like I steal from poor people.”

“Then why’d you run when I saw you?”

“What criminal _wouldn’t_ run? You’re the Celestial Spirit. You take people like me and turn them in to the authorities.”

“Though it would seem some in positions of power are even more corrupt than I already thought,” Lucy said, her expression pensive. “Say, Natsu. What do you think of our king?”

“The king?” Natsu scratched his head. “Well, I don’t think much of him at all, to be honest. I mean that in the literal sense. Politics aren’t my thing.”

“I hate him,” Lucy said. She sounded almost…wistful. Sad. “Well, I suppose you could already guess that much. He’s got a bounty out for me, after all. He’s really a tyrannical man. But if government officials are plotting something involving the king, I can’t just ignore it. If only I’d been able to hear more of what they’re planning.”

“Are you asking if you should go after those men?” Natsu asked.

Lucy laughed bitterly. “I guess I am. I just find myself suddenly put in a strange position. Evil plotting against evil. Whose side should I take?”

“Then don’t take anybody’s side. Just do whatever’s right and don’t worry about sides. It’s not like either of them are your allies.”

“Yes, but whether I decide to take action or not, that decision will support one side or another, be it my intention or not. And I don’t want any bad outcomes to be on my conscience.”

“How about you just sleep for now?” Natsu said. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep his eyes open, but this girl kept on _talking_.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Maybe sleep will do me some good anyway. Thank you for the bed, by the way.”

“No problem. It’s better than you getting me arrested.” Natsu yawned. “’Night, Lucy.”

“It’s morning, Natsu.”

His consciousness was slipping, but he thought he saw her smile again, laughing at her own bad joke. “Whatever. Goodnight.”


	3. Chapter 3

Natsu was woken up by a cat sitting on his face.

He groaned and rolled over. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled, trying to push the ball of fluff from his face.

“Come on, Natsu, wake up.”

“Nooo.”

“But Natsu, there’s a weird girl here.”

Natsu’s eyes shot open. Right. Lucy. He sat up and rubbed his eyes as his blue cat paced in front of him.

“What happened last night?” Happy asked.

“Well…” He couldn’t figure out where to start. “It’s kind of a long story.”

“Who’s the girl?”

“Her name is Lucy,” Natsu said. “She’s the Celestial Spirit.”

Happy’s pupils widened. “She’s _that_ Celestial Spirit?”

“Yeah. She chased me and then we found a secret meeting of evil government dudes and I blew up a mansion.”

“Yeah, I thought you were behind that.”

“Sorry, Happy. I might’ve gotten us into a real mess last night.”

“It’s okay. Fairy Tail will hide us.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to drag them down with us. Thanks for waking me up. Lucy and I have to talk to Gramps about it. Well, mostly just I do, but I’m helping Lucy now.”

“Why’d you let her have the hammock anyway?” Happy asked.

Natsu gave him an incredulous look. “She’s the Celestial Spirit. She’s scary.”

“She doesn’t look scary.”

Natsu looked over at the girl on his hammock. She was sleeping peacefully, one hand tucked under her head and the other resting on her stomach. She was thin but curvy, and in the golden daylight her hair was like a halo around the soft glow of her face.

Damn. She was way too pretty.

Natsu wasn’t one to feel attraction toward anyone of any gender, but he knew beauty when he saw it. And his observations last night hadn’t been wrong; even without the mist and starlight, she really was the most beautiful person he’d ever met.

But beautiful or not, they were in a rather sticky situation. The government was a strong enemy to make. Also, they could both agree that the meeting they’d eavesdropped on was suspicious to say the least. For someone as scary as the Celestial Spirit to be rattled by what little they heard, Natsu knew his instinct wasn’t wrong. Something evil was going down in the Kingdom of Fiore.

“Natsu?”

“Hm?”

“You were zoning out.”

Natsu stroked Happy’s head. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Hey, why don’t you go downstairs and grab some food for the road while I wake up Sleeping Beauty here?”

“Aye, sir!” And with that, the cat was running to the kitchen. Natsu wasn’t sure they had any food here that hadn’t gone bad, but he was sure Happy could find something.

And now there was the problem of Lucy. He went to her side and stared a moment. Was she the type to lash out when woken up? He hoped not.

“Hey. Lucy.” He poked her shoulder. “Hey, wake up.” Another nudge, harder this time. Lucy stirred but didn’t open her eyes. “O great Celestial Spirit, open thine eyes!” Still nothing.

Feeling annoyed, Natsu bent down to her ear. “Wake up!” he shouted.

She jumped awake with a yelp. “What was that for?” she cried, putting a hand to her heart.

Natsu shrugged. “You weren’t waking up.”

“What time is it?”

“Dunno. Looks like the afternoon.”

“Ohhh, she woke up?”

Natsu looked to the doorway. “So you did manage to find something, Happy. Nice!”

“The…the cat can talk?” Lucy gaped.

“I can fly, too,” Happy said. “Wanna see?”

“I mean, I—”

“Look!” Happy sprouted wings and hovered a few feet in the air, still holding onto the bread he’d brought with him. “It’s a kind of magic, so I can’t do it forever, though.”

“Happy isn’t really a cat,” Natsu explained. “He looks like a normal cat, but he’s actually an exceed. They’re similar species I guess. But different.”

“I see,” Lucy said. She still looked a little stunned, but Natsu knew she’d get used to it. She had a weird crab guy in one of her keys, after all; she ought to be used to this sort of thing by now.

“Come on, eat something before we go to the guild,” Natsu said. “Here, Happy brought us food.”

“They’re a little moldy, but if you eat around those parts it should be fine,” Happy said, handing them each a slice of bread.

“Thanks!” Natsu said. He was about to bite in when Lucy stopped him.

“This isn’t edible,” she said.

“Why not?”

“It’s moldy. Spoiled food makes you sick.”

“But it’s better than nothing, right?” Natsu said, tilting his head.

“Come on, don’t be ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous. It’s food!” Natsu didn’t know what this girl’s deal was. Maybe Cana was right and she was from a rich family or something. It’s not like either of them had the money to buy food; Natsu just ate whatever he could get.

“There’s gotta be something edible out in this forest,” Lucy said, gesturing out to the thick trees beyond the window.

“Yeah, but we don’t have time for that if we want to go to the g— to the tavern.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes. “What exactly is this Fairy Tail place anyway? You called it a guild. You caught yourself this time, but I did notice.”

Natsu’s shoulders slumped. He was terrible at keeping secrets. “It’s actually a cover for a mages’ guild,” he admitted.

Lucy’s eyebrows shot up. “Those are illegal.”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t arrest us, okay? We’re just trying to make a living.”

“Well, of course!” Lucy said, surprising Natsu. So illegal guilds were okay? She wasn’t going to attack them? “Unless you’re one of those dark guilds,” she amended.

Natsu shook his head rapidly. “No, of course not.”

“Fairy Tail was a legal guild until the ban, aye,” Happy added.

Lucy smiled a bit. “Sorry about that.”

“Sorry for what?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing.”

Last night, Lucy talked up a storm. But of course, just when Natsu actually _wanted_ her to talk about something, she clammed up. How convenient. Meanwhile he was spilling secrets left and right.

“I’ve already told you this much, so you can stop keeping secrets,” he said, bending down to pick up his pack.

Lucy’s eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks, chin tucked to her chest. “I really am sorry. I don’t want to get anyone else involved in my problems.”

“I’m already involved and I even let you sleep in my bed after you attacked me last night. The least you could do is explain shit,” he said. He didn’t want to get angry, but if there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was the type of person who would withhold information “for your own good.” It was a patronizing attitude, and he hated it.

Lucy sighed. “I know, and I said I’m sorry. I promise I can explain later. Just…not now. Please.”

“Whatever.” Just as quickly as he’d gotten annoyed, he quickly stopped caring. “Let’s go?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She peeled off a clean piece of the bread. “Thanks for this, Happy.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Happy said.

Natsu lifted Happy up onto his shoulder. He looked back at Lucy as he opened the front door. “Time for the Celestial Spirit to meet Fairy Tail.”

 

Now that it was the afternoon, Fairy Tail was bustling with people. Natsu could hear the chatter from down the street, and when he swung the doors open, the sound greeted him full-blast. It was good to be back.

“Flame Brain! You’re still alive.” Of course Gray would be the first to greet him.

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Natsu snapped, sending Gray a glare.

“Wait,” Gray said, hopping off the table he was sitting on. He walked over and peered curiously at Lucy. “This is new. Natsu bringing back a girl.”

“Cana didn’t mention it?”

Gray looked at Natsu. “Cana? Haven’t seen her all day. She’s probably sleeping.”

“Eh, she was pretty drunk this morning. This is Lucy. She’s, ah…she’s here for reasons.” Natsu looked at Lucy, not sure what to say. It didn’t seem right to just blurt out last night’s events in front of all these people. Knowing Fairy Tail, they wouldn’t stop to consider the context before running out to do something about it. Natsu himself was guilty of the same.

“Reasons, huh? Well, nice to meet you. I’m Gray. Gray Fullbuster.”

“I’m Lucy.”

They shook hands.

“How in the world did you manage to get yourself stuck with this idiot?” Gray asked.

“Hey, watch it, Ice Breath,” Natsu snarled.

“Make me, Hothead.”

“Are you two fighting?”

Natsu froze. There was only one person that voice could belong to.

“No, of course not!” he said, quickly switching to a cheerful tone.

Gray’s arm slung over Natsu’s shoulder. “We’re just exchanging affectionate nicknames since we haven’t seen each other in so long,” he said.

But Erza’s attention was quickly pulled away from the two of them to Lucy. Natsu let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, and shrugged Gray’s arm off.

“Hi, I’m Lucy,” Lucy said, holding out her hand to shake. Natsu winced. He knew what was coming next.

“My name’s Erza Scarlet,” Erza said. She ignored Lucy’s hand and went for a hug instead, pulling Lucy’s head to her armored chest.

“Urk! Nice to meet you,” Lucy croaked, gasping for breath. Erza released her, and Lucy bent over to catch her breath.

“It’s nice to have a guest here, even if you’re Natsu’s guest,” Erza said. She turned to Natsu. “My congratulations, by the way. Cana told me about it when I arrived.”

What in the world was she congratulating him for? “What?”

“You finally found yourself a girlfriend after all these years,” Erza exclaimed, a proud smile plastered on her face. Crap, this was a terrible misunderstanding.

“I don’t know what Cana told you, but it’s not like that,” Natsu said quickly.

“Oh.” Erza turned to Lucy. “My apologies.”

“We need to talk to the Master,” Natsu said.

Gray thumbed toward the back room upstairs. “If you’re looking for Makarov, he’s in his office.”

“Got it.” Natsu grabbed Lucy’s hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Ah, okay,” Lucy said, stumbling after him. Erza and Gray were his two least favorite people (yeah, they were friends, but they were annoying friends) and at the moment they were only distractions. He and Lucy had to consult Makarov. _He’d_ know what was going on.

Natsu barged into the office without bothering to knock. “Yo, Gramps!”

Makarov looked up from his desk, and quickly rushed to hide whatever he was looking at. “Oh! Natsu! I heard you returned.”

“What’cha lookin’ at, Gramps? Dirty magazines again?”

“Don’t tease this old man,” Makarov said, scowling.

So he _was_ looking at dirty magazines. Natsu smirked.

“Did you need something, kid? And who’s this?”

Natsu was getting awfully tired of the introductions. “This is Lucy. Anyway, Gramps, we’ve got something important to talk to you about.”

“Which is?”

“There’s something weird happening.”

“Natsu, you’re going to have to be more specific. Come, sit down, both of you.” Makarov stood up and pulled out two chairs, holding one of them for Lucy. He gave her an odd little smile when their gazes met. Then he sat back down behind his desk. “Now, tell me what’s going on.”

Natsu described the events of the previous night to the best of his abilities, with Lucy chiming in every now and then to add her own interpretation of events. She was a lot better at words than he was, so he didn’t know why she let him do all the talking. She was probably being shy or something. It didn’t matter, so long as they got to tell Makarov everything.

On Makarov’s end, he just nodded along to everything, humming in understanding every so often. Natsu wasn’t sure he was actually paying any attention, but when he was finished telling his story, Makarov looked up and met Natsu’s eyes.

“You’ve gotten yourself in a bad spot, kid.”

“Wait, so you know what’s happening?” Natsu said, jumping to his feet.

“Sit down, Natsu.”

Natsu did as he was told.

“I haven’t told any of you kids yet because I didn’t want to worry you or get you involved in something like this.” He let out a long breath. “We don’t know specifics, but we’ve been noticing suspicious patterns in the political climate around Fiore and in other nations as well.”

“We?” Lucy said. “Who’s the ‘we’?”

“We’re not the only underground guild in Fiore,” Makarov said.

“She doesn’t know much about guilds,” Natsu said.

“I can’t imagine the Celestial Spirit would know much about the underground guild networks,” Makarov said.

Natsu jumped up again. “So you do know who she is,” he exclaimed.

“I knew as soon as you said her name,” Makarov said. “Now sit down, Natsu.”

“Wait, you knew her name?”

“There are a few things I am privy to that you are not,” Makarov said. “I’m not sure this is the time to discuss them, though.”

“Right.” Natsu sat down. “So what’s going on exactly?”

“Demons,” Makarov said.

Lucy’s eyes widened. “There have been an increase in incidents regarding powerful demons,” she said.

“Yes. Demons made by the Black Mage Zeref,” Makarov said. “And the government’s response to this has been…?” He cued Lucy.

“Minimal,” she finished. “Wait, do you think they’re responsible for it?”

“We don’t know anything for sure, but it is awfully suspicious. They send troops, but only after others have already taken care of the problem. The king has been very frustrated, and a lot of political drama has happened over it. Some getting kicked out of office, others getting promoted. So hearing what you just told me, it feels like the king is being manipulated to get certain people closest to him.”

“They talked as if they had control over most of Fiore,” Lucy said. “Magnolia seemed to be an exception.”

Makarov smirked. “We keep the local magistrate busy,” he said.

“Wait, I’m confused,” Natsu said. “So they’re trying to get power or something? What do demons have to do with it?”

“We believe that they are using the demon attacks as a means of placing blame on their enemies to get them removed from office. This has been happening in other countries too, according to international guilds. Problem is, we don’t know why.”

“You said all of them were Zeref’s demons? I fought a few of those.”

Lucy looked at Natsu. “Wait, that was you?”

“Hm? Yeah. I beat up a few of those guys,” Natsu said with a shrug.

“Thanks,” Lucy said. “You saved me a lot of trouble. I’ve been really busy trying to take care of all the incidents the past few years.”

“I’m not the only one. Just when I’m in the area,” Natsu said. He slouched back in the chair.

“Guilds have always tried to take care of anything within our jurisdiction,” Makarov said. “Of course, it’s hard to do all of it and still keep from getting caught. We’ve heard much of your accomplishments, Miss Lucy. I’m surprised you manage to be in so many places at once.”

Lucy laughed. “It isn’t without much difficulty. But it’s my duty, in a way.”

“Well, can I ask one more thing of you?”

“Of course,” Lucy said. “You’ve given me valuable information.”

Makarov looked at Natsu. “I want to talk to Lucy alone for a moment. If you don’t mind, Natsu.”

“Uh, sure,” Natsu said. He stood up. “Let me know when you’re done.”

Natsu lingered outside the door, curiosity overwhelming him. But Makarov knew he was there and yelled for him to leave, sending Natsu scampering downstairs. He wandered over to where Gray and Erza were still chatting.

“Where’d the girl go?” Gray asked.

“Gramps wanted to talk to her,” Natsu said with a dismissive shrug.

“What about?”

“Dunno.”

“Aren’t you curious?”

“Of course I’m curious,” Natsu said. “But when I tried to eavesdrop, Gramps just yelled at me.”

Erza sighed. “You’re too predictable, Natsu. Anyway, why didn’t you mention earlier that she was the Celestial Spirit?”

Gray started. “Wait, she’s the Celestial Spirit? That girl is?”

“You didn’t notice?” Natsu said.

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“Everyone else seemed to know without me telling them.”

“What about you?”

“In my case, it was a little hard _not_ to realize who she was. I was her prey for a while there.”

“Stealing again?” Erza guessed.

“Shut up.”

“Hey, Natsu!”

Natsu turned to the sound of Happy’s voice. Levy McGarden was carrying Happy over, Wendy Marvell and her exceed Charle by Levy’s side.

Natsu ruffled Wendy’s hair. “Good to see ya, kid.”

“Welcome back,” Wendy replied.

“Natsu, where’d Lucy go?” Happy asked.

“She’s upstairs talking to Makarov.”

Happy’s ears flopped. “Aww. I told Levy and Wendy they’d get to meet her.”

“I’m sure they’ll be done eventually,” Levy said, releasing Happy to fly to his usual spot on Natsu’s shoulder. “What’s she like?”

“Pretty,” Natsu said. “Scary. Pretty scary.”

“Nice catch,” Gray said.

“Watch it, Popsicle.”

“So she’s strict like Erza?” Wendy guessed.

“Even scarier,” Natsu said, wiggling his fingers like claws.

“Natsuuuu!” Natsu looked up in time to see Lucy waving at him from the second floor. She jumped over the railing and flipped once before landing on her feet in front of the bar. Guild members and patrons alike applauded at the acrobatics.

She ran over. “Natsu, we have a job.”

“A job? What kind of job?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. Makarov said I should meet the rest of Fairy Tail first. If I’m going to be involved with you guys, I might as well meet my fellow mages,” Lucy said.

“Well, here’s two more,” Natsu said, gesturing to Levy and Wendy. They introduced themselves, and Wendy also introduced her exceed Charle. Then Mira brought over drinks, and soon everyone was welcoming the new honorary member of Fairy Tail. Even Natsu got into the spirit of things, letting his curiosity fall by the wayside forgotten.


	4. Chapter 4

After socializing long into the night, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy headed back to the cabin in the woods for the night and for some more much-needed rest.

Lucy yawned, stretching her arms high above her head. “It feels like it’s been two days, but it really only happened last night,” she said. “Meeting you, I mean. So much has happened in this short time.”

“Yeah. And you mentioned a job.”

“Makarov is your guildmaster, right? He’s very knowledgeable.”

“Yeah, and?”

She sighed. “You just want me to get to the point, don’t you?”

Natsu waited expectantly.

“Come on, just tell us already,” Happy said.

“Fine, fine. There are several dark guilds around Fiore that the guildmasters suspect are working alongside some of the corrupt magistrates we eavesdropped on last night in order to revive Zeref’s demons. There is one dark guild that’s become active recently, and he’s asked us to go stop it.”

Natsu grinned. “Sounds great! When do we leave?” After yesterday’s brief fight, he was just itching for some action. He’d almost gotten it by fighting Gray, but of course Erza had to be there the whole time and put a stop to any attempts at fighting.

“Not so fast,” Lucy said. “This isn’t just an ordinary dark guild; it’s one of the strongest. Even I’ve heard of them. I had an encounter with them once and barely escaped with my life after battling only one of their members. We have to gather a team first. Just in case.”

“I can take ‘em,” Natsu said. He lit one fist on fire. “The only active guildmember in Fairy Tail I haven’t been able to defeat is Erza, and Erza’s the strongest there is.”

“He actually suggested we take Erza along,” Lucy said.

That took the wind out of Natsu’s sails. “Oh. They must be really strong, then.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say. But you know Fairy Tail best, so I’ll listen to your advice for assembling our team. Makarov said that five or six of the strongest should be enough to guarantee a victory.”

“Five or six? That’s a lot. Let me think. Hmm…”

There was Erza, of course, then Natsu himself, and Lucy too. Gray was considered one of the stronger members of Fairy Tail, as much as Natsu hated to admit it, so he might be a good choice if not for the fact that he’s, well, _Gray_. And despite her size, Wendy was a capable fighter. Levy’s magic was good in a pinch.

“We have to bring Charle,” Happy said, pressing a paw to Natsu’s face. “Hey, Natsu, let’s bring Charle.”

“I already have Wendy on my list,” Natsu snapped.

“Wendy? That sweet little girl?” Lucy said.

“She’s a dragon slayer,” Natsu said. He grinned at her. “Just like me.”

“Dragon slayer?” Lucy looked startled for a moment. She turned her gaze forward, eyes wide as she watched the path before them. “Wow. Fairy Tail is really amazing. That’s such rare magic.”

“Not as rare as yours,” Natsu pointed out. “You’re the Celestial Spirit.”

Lucy smiled. “I guess so. I’m so used to it that I forget my magic isn’t seen very often. It’s really nothing special.”

“Summoning magic takes a lot of magical energy,” Natsu pointed out. “Well, so does dragon slayer magic, but the application is completely different.”

“So Wendy, Erza, and who else?”

Natsu counted on his fingers. “Me, you, Wendy, Erza, and as much as I hate to say it, Gray.”

“He’s an ice mage,” Lucy said.

“Right.”

“You two argue a lot.”

“He’s an irritating bastard,” Natsu said.

“Fire and ice. It’s obvious why you don’t get along.”

“Shut up.”

“What about Levy? She seemed nice. She’s a script mage, right?”

“I was thinking about her,” Natsu said. “Her magic can be useful in a pinch. Like if I need to refuel on fire or something. She’s good at that sort of survival stuff. And she’s smart, so she knows a lot about written magic and how it works.”

“Why don’t we bring Mira?” Happy said.

Natsu waved away the suggestion. “Mira stopped fighting years ago.” When Lisanna died. “She’s strong, but she’d never agree.”

“It’s worth a shot to ask,” Lucy said.

“No,” Natsu said. “We can’t ask Mira.” He could feel his voice getting darker, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to think about this. Mirajane and Elfman were the two people that, no matter how strong they were, Natsu definitely could never ask to fight.

Lucy quickly backed off. “Oh. Okay.”

“So is that our team then?” Lucy said. “Us, Erza, Wendy, Gray, and Levy.”

“Jet and Droy won’t want to give Levy up,” Happy snickered.

“They’re just gonna have to live with it, because we need her to write us some food. There’s no way I’m letting Erza cook for five people and two exceeds,” Natsu said.

Lucy snorted. “That’s the real reason? You want her to make you food?”

“And fire,” Natsu said. “And aren’t half of Zeref’s demons from books? Levy knows a lot about that sort of stuff. She might be able to decode some written magic.”

“That’s actually a good point,” Lucy said. “Okay. Then we have our team. That’s six people and two cats.”

“Exceeds,” Happy corrected.

“Six people and two exceeds. If they’re all as strong as you say they are, we should have no problem with that dark guild.”

Natsu made a noise of affirmation. And the conversation fell quiet.

The crunch of their footsteps on twigs and gravel only barely covered up the rustling sounds of the woods around them. To Natsu, it was a familiar sound. Even away from home, trees were trees and rocks were rocks. But this particular sound, the sound of these woods, was one he missed.

“Say, Natsu?” Lucy broke the silence.

“Mm.”

“Tell me about yourself.”

He wasn’t expecting that question. “Uhh, like what?”

“Just…where you came from, what you do. That sort of stuff.”

“Well, uh. I’m looking for my dad, Igneel. He was a dragon, you know. The one who taught me my magic. He disappeared suddenly one day when I was little, and I ended up at Fairy Tail. I’ve been looking for him ever since.” Natsu shrugged. “That’s really it.” That was all the important stuff, anyway. She didn’t need to know anything more than that.

“So you were raised by a dragon?” Lucy said.

“Yeah.”

“Was he a nice dragon?”

Natsu jumped in front of her. “Of course!” he exclaimed. He began walking backwards as they continued through the forest. “He would always play with me and he even taught me history. I don’t know who my parents were or anything, but he took me in and raised me. He was super strong, and just awesome!” He fell into step beside Lucy again. “That’s why I have to find him. He wouldn’t just disappear like that.”

“I see,” Lucy said.

“I hatched from an egg,” Happy offered. “I turned six last year.”

“Do exceeds use cat years?”

“I don’t know,” Happy said. “I’m an orphan, too.”

“I’m not an orphan,” Natsu said. But he knew Happy was right, in a way. Until he figured out what had happened to Igneel, he was essentially an orphan. It had always been that way. He didn’t even know who his biological parents were, or why he’d been left all alone in the forest like that for Igneel to find.

“I’m not an orphan, either,” Lucy said. “My mom died seven years ago, but my dad’s still alive. I haven’t seen him in years, though. Not since I became the Celestial Spirit, as people call me.”

“Does he not approve of you going all vigilante?” Happy asked.

Lucy laughed. “Who do you think has been trying so hard to hunt me down all this time and get me arrested?”

“So he calls the cops on you?” Natsu said.

Lucy turned her face toward him with a bitter smile that looked more like a grimace. “That’s an understatement,” she said. “He’s even threatened to have me hanged before.”

Natsu gaped. Was she for real?

She continued, “I was born into an elite household, and my father controlled my life down to the very last detail. I was basically no more than an object to be sold to the highest bidder by marriage when I turned sixteen. I wasn’t even allowed out of the house, or around any peers. So, one day, I escaped.

“I already knew my father would be furious that I tried to run away, but when I met Plue and started chasing down bad guys, he just went ballistic. He completely disowned me and wiped my name from the records; it’s as if I never existed, as if I was never his daughter.” She sighed and scuffed her feet against the ground. “Basically, if I’m ever caught, I’ll be murdered on the spot,” she grumbled.

“Oh,” Natsu said. He wasn’t sure what he could say in response to that. “That sounds…complicated.”

“Yeah. But the elite class is supposed to protect the citizens it governs. The reason I keep doing what I do is to protect my people.” Lucy reached for her belt and pulled out a key. “Come on out, Plue.”

There was a short flash of light, and then that huge white wolf appeared again. Seeing it for the second time, Natsu noticed that the wolf had an orange spiral protruding from its forehead. A unicorn wolf?

The wolf nuzzled against Lucy’s leg, and she reached down to stroke its fur as she walked. “Plue taught me how to survive out here. If it weren’t for him, I probably would’ve died. I was just a foolish, pampered little girl running away from a home I hated. At the time, I probably would’ve welcomed death with open arms. But now, I’m glad Plue saved me.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Natsu asked. He was beginning to get suspicious of her motives. She’d been so shifty this morning, and now she was spilling everything. For what reason?

“We’re going to be working together, after all,” Lucy said. “It’s only natural that I be honest with you. Also…” She clasped her hands together in front of her. They bounced against her thighs as she walked. “…I thought you should know why I do this. Why someone like me who supposedly punishes lawbreakers is suddenly working with an illegal guild. Now you know my circumstances.”

“I don’t know what you mean by circumstances,” Natsu said, “but it sounds to me like you’d fit right in around here.”

Lucy smiled tentatively. “That’s good to hear.”

“Anyway, the point is, you just wanna beat up a bunch of bad guys, right?”

“I guess you could put it that way,” Lucy laughed. “These demons have been killing countless innocent citizens. If there’s any way I can stop the people behind it, no matter who they are or what their motives, I’d be a happy person.”

“You’re like a hero,” Happy chimed in.

“I’m no hero; I’m just a highborn girl who ran away,” Lucy said. “And this pampered princess is going to be the one sleeping on the floor tonight. It’s your house, and besides, I’ve got Plue. I usually sleep on him every night when I’m by myself, so I don’t see why it should be any different when I’m at your place.”

“Fine by me,” Natsu said. Yes, he’d get his bed back! He was wondering how he could convince Lucy to give it up tonight, but it looked like that wasn’t necessary.

“That’s what I talked to Makarov about in the office, by the way,” Lucy said. “He recognized me, somehow. The general public isn’t aware of my identity, although I imagine that those in the upper ranks of society are more privy to such gossip.”

Natsu wasn’t sure what a privy was — Lucy’s high-class vocabulary was lost on him — but he knew that Makarov lots of connections, so that’s probably how he knew about Lucy’s origins. Not that it really mattered. If they were going on a job together, she was part of Fairy Tail, and Fairy Tail didn’t care about people’s personal history. Well, they cared to the extent that one would care about any friend’s life, but there was no discrimination or special treatment. If you were a guildmember, you were a guildmember. That was that.

He told her as much, and she smiled in response.

“Fairy Tail is a nice place,” she said, staring up at the stars, the wistful smile on her face glowing with the light of the moon.

“Yeah,” Natsu said, too distracted by her visage to think of anything else to respond. This girl kept drawing his attention, and he had no idea how to deal with it.

She wasn’t any more beautiful than, say, Erza, or Cana, or especially Mirajane; she was on their level, beautiful for sure but no more or less stunning than the rest. So _why_? Why only her? He hated when this sort of thing happened. He hoped it went away quickly like it always did.

Happy was hovering by his head. “You okay, Natsu?” the little blue cat asked.

“Of course!” Natsu chirped, grinning. He had more important things to worry about now. Like putting together their team to go demon-fighting.

Lucy didn’t know the members of Fairy Tail, given she’d only just met them today, which meant it was Natsu’s responsibility to get everyone gathered and make sure they knew what their objective was. And Natsu was always a staunch loner, so he had no experience leading a team on a job. Heck, the past couple years he’d hardly been around Fairy Tail at all; things and people could’ve changed a lot in his absence.

He’d just have to hope it all worked out. It was a sudden mission thrust upon them, but it seemed like Makarov was trusting them with something really important and Natsu didn’t want to let him down.

“Oh, and before we go to sleep,” Lucy said, breaking the silence just as Natsu’s house came into view. She whirled around to face him, skirt twirling. “I should—” She paused, and seemed to reconsider. “No, never mind. We can do that later.”

Natsu decided it was best not to question it. They’d already revealed a lot over the past 24 hours they’d known each other; anything more could wait.


	5. Chapter 5

“Can you at least try to bring a reasonable amount of stuff this time?”

“Are you saying what I usually bring is unreasonable?”

“No, no, of course not! I’m just saying that you should try to limit yourself this time. Think of it as a challenge.”

“Just let her pack a second bag or something,” Lucy said, trying to mediate the tense conversation between Gray and Erza. It was their usual strained dynamic, Erza threatening and Gray both annoyed and frightened.

Gray just sighed and rolled his eyes. “If she only brought two suitcases, it’d be a miracle,” he said.

Natsu laughed at Lucy’s confusion. She’d learn eventually. It was only her second day at Fairy Tail, so she was still figuring out all of the guildmembers’ quirks. She did seem to have a pretty good handle on their personalities, though; she knew just how to pander to Erza’s uptight sensibilities, and the right smile to put Wendy at ease, and how to stop Gray before he finished absentmindedly removing some article of clothing. Natsu thought she would be socially stunted, someone like her who spent all their time avoiding people, but she was actually very sociable and good with crowds and strangers. Though, Natsu supposed, that might be because of her high-class upbringing.

Honestly, he was envious. He got along with Fairy Tail just because he’d been around them since he was a kid, but he knew his social etiquette was completely shot. Meeting new people always ended in failure for Natsu. Well, Lucy was an exception, but she was a special circumstance.

“Lucy, do you have everything you need to travel?” Levy asked. “You could always borrow from us if you need to.”

“I always bring extras of everything,” Erza added, smiling proudly.

“Please bring _less_ extras,” Gray mumbled.

“I’ve never needed much,” Lucy said. “I use Plue to sleep, and I hunt for food. There’s not much else I need.”

“You…use Plue? To sleep?” Levy said.

Lucy nodded. “He’s very comfortable. I slept on him last night, in fact.”

“And why didn’t you sleep on a proper bed?” Levy asked, leveling a pointed look at Natsu.

“She said she wanted to,” he said defensively. Granted he would’ve kicked her out of his hammock anyway, but still, she volunteered first.

“You can’t let a lady sleep on the ground,” Erza said.

“Really, guys, it’s fine,” Lucy said. “Plue’s comfortable.”

“Plue is your wolf, right?” Gray said.

“He’s a doggie,” Lucy corrected, “but yes.”

“He’s a little wolf-like to be a dog,” Natsu said. “What makes him a dog instead of a wolf?”

“Because he just is.”

“So it’s not a wolf, but a dog,” Wendy marveled, nodding her head as if she finally understood some great secret of the universe.

“Don’t listen to her. It’s a wolf,” Natsu said. There was no way he was accepting that thing as a dog. It was definitely a wolf. It looked exactly like any wolf Natsu had ever seen, just albino or something. Plue was a wolf.

“I think you are all getting off-topic,” Charle said, crossing her arms. “We are meeting now to talk about preparations, remember?”

“Right,” Erza said. “Thank you, Charle. Now. The place we are going, according to Makarov, is in the far north. Has anyone been there before?”

“I have,” Wendy said, raising her hand. “That’s where I lived before I came to Fairy Tail.”

“So you know the area.”

“Well…not really. That was a long time ago. Maybe if I see somewhere I’ve been I’ll recognize it, but I can’t picture it in my mind.”

“Anyone else?”

Natsu looked around. Everyone else was shaking their heads, including him. Even Lucy hadn’t been up there, apparently, which surprised him. He would’ve thought that the Celestial Spirit would have been everywhere by now. It sure seemed that way.

“Not even you, Lucy?” Levy said, probably thinking along the same lines as Natsu.

“There aren’t many villages there,” Lucy said, “and no trade routes. It’s all just wilderness. I was in the southern portion for a short time to hide, but there was no need to go any farther north.”

“Can’t catch bad guys where there aren’t any,” Gray remarked.

“Though it would seem that there _are_ bad guys there that I just didn’t know about,” Lucy said.

“None of us knew about it,” Erza said. “Makarov sure keeps a lot more secrets than I suspected.”

“I’m sure he keeps a lot more than this,” Gray said. “Back to the topic. If nobody knows the area, we’ll just have to rely on maps to get us around.”

“Hey, isn’t Phantom Lord in that area?” Levy said.

Natsu scowled. “They’re still a thing?”

“What’s Phantom Lord?” Lucy asked.

“Our rivals,” Erza said. “Or, they were back when guilds were legal. After the ban, they went underground like the rest of us, but they went _really_ underground. They’ve become pretty shady; one might even classify them as a dark guild at this point.”

“Hey, then we can ask Juvia and Gajeel for directions,” Wendy exclaimed.

Levy nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. They might even know where the Oración Seis are located.”

“I don’t know,” Gray said. “To risk blowing their cover for something so trivial…”

Levy sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Natsu had been wondering where Juvia and Gajeel were, and that answered that question. He assumed they went on some mission together, but he wouldn’t have guessed their mission was to join Phantom Lord as spies. What was Makarov’s motivation in sending them to a place like that? He’d have to ask later.

He jumped up. “So? When do we get going?”

“Tomorrow,” Erza said promptly.

Natsu sat back down, disappointed. “Aw. I wanted to leave sooner.”

“This job is a lot farther away than most. We need to pack strategically.”

“I’m already packed,” Natsu said, indicating the bags rest on the floor behind him.

“You’re always packed,” Gray said. “Would it really kill you to stay here one more day?”

Natsu squirmed. They all knew why he didn’t like being in Magnolia for too long, and they all thought he should just get over it already. As for him, he thought they should all mind their own damn business.

Mira came over and placed drinks down on the table. Natsu pulled his mug toward him and sipped the beer’s bitter foam.

“Yeah, Natsu, why don’t you stay around a while?” Mira said, pulling the empty tray to her chest. “It’s been a long time since you were home.”

“We _do_ have to leave tomorrow, Mira,” Levy said.

“That’s only two days of being back,” Mira said. She looked at Natsu with those kind eyes of hers, and he couldn’t meet them. “Do you really hate it here that much?”

“Course not,” Natsu said.

Mira smiled. “Then rest for one more day. Okay?”

Natsu stuck out his lower lip. “Yeah, whatever,” he muttered, eliciting an amused giggle from Mira as she walked away. He could feel Lucy’s eyes on him, curious, but he wasn’t about to explain anything. And he knew the rest would keep their mouths shut, too; they might not approve, but they respected his right to keep a secret.

“So we leave at 7am tomorrow,” Erza said.

Levy clapped her hands together. “Everyone go home and pack. This job is going to take a while, so prepare accordingly.”

“Aye, sir,” Happy cheered, jumping into Natsu’s arms. Well, if Happy was excited, the least he could do was smile for his friend’s sake. And so he did.

 

Natsu let Happy go hang out with Charle and Wendy for the day while he and Lucy stayed at the guild. It was only a matter of time before the magistrate returned to Magnolia, so it was best to enjoy the peace while it lasted.

He entertained himself by watching the girls as Lucy befriended Mira.

“So this place works as a regular tavern, too?” Lucy said.

“Of course,” Mira said. “How else can we stay in business when being a guild is illegal? Everyone knows we accept jobs, but the government hasn’t been able to catch us doing anything but serving our customers.” She winked conspiratorially.

“Are you a mage too?” Lucy asked.

Mira smiled. “I was, but I’m retired now.” She looked down at the glass she was polishing, her tied-up bangs flopping toward her forehead.

“Oh. But you’re so young!”

“The life of a mage isn’t for me, I’m afraid. I used the ban as an excuse to quit magic, and now I just work as a barmaid here. People try to pity me, but I love what I do and I chose it for myself.”

“Doesn’t it get lonely?”

Mira laughed. “Of course not! How could one ever get lonely in a place like Fairy Tail?”

“I mean, do you miss your magic?”

“If I start to miss it, I’ll come out of retirement,” Mira said. “But enough about me. Why are _you_ here?”

“It just sort of ended up this way,” Lucy said, looking at Natsu.

“Don’t look at me,” Natsu said. “I brought you here, but you were the one who decided to stay.”

“Ohoho, is there any particular reason you’re staying?”

“We have a common goal,” Lucy said. “And in a situation like this, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to look for allies. Makarov is a great source of information that even I wasn’t aware of.”

“So it’s not because of Natsu?”

Lucy blinked. “Eh?”

Cana leaned over. “Mira’s boyfriends are out of town, so she’s been meddling in everyone else’s love lives instead. Ignore her; she’s just lonely.”

“Just because you don’t care for romance doesn’t mean you can make fun of me for loving it,” Mira said.

“Not dissing hopeless romantics,” Cana said. “Just stating the real reason behind your aggressive gossiping.”

“Cana’s mean,” Mira cried, burying her face in her hands in an exaggerated show of distress.

“Tell me about your boyfriend, Mira,” Lucy said.

“Boyfriends,” Mira corrected, blushing. “You’ve probably heard of them before; they’re still publically active as mages, so they’re pretty famous criminals. There’s Laxus of course, and Freed is one of the Raijinshuu.”

Lucy’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Laxus and the Raijinshuu. I have heard of them. They’re strong.”

“Yes,” Mira said. She clasped her hands together by her heart. “And they’re so adorable, too. You should see the way Freed looks at Laxus like he’s the most beautiful thing in the world. Besides me, of course.” She giggled. “Just kidding. But they’re both gorgeous and strong and such great people. Just thinking about how much I miss them, I want to kiss them both to pieces.”

“Haven’t you already?” Cana quipped. “I seem to recall quite a few hickies on all three of you last time they came around…”

That last remark earned Cana a smack on the head and her beer mug swiped from her hand by a red-faced Mira. Natsu grinned. Watching the girls talk was loads of fun. Almost as fun as beating up his best frenemy. He’d have to find a way to get out of Erza’s sights so he and Gray could have a sparring match.

The sounds of shouts from outside interrupted the playful banter happening at the bar. Shouting from _inside_ Fairy Tail was common at night, but from outside at this time of day? Combined with the telltale clink of armor, Natsu realized the soldiers had finally arrived.

“Took them long enough,” he said, standing up and shouldering his pack. He held his hand out to Lucy. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before they bust in.”

“They found us already?” she said, confused but obedient.

“Natsu was a pretty famous troublemaker back in the day,” Mira said, opening the door to the back room. “It couldn’t have been hard for them to know it was him. Good luck, you two. Natsu, tell the others goodbye and good luck for me.”

“Sure thing,” he said. He pulled Lucy through the door, maneuvering around piles of boxes and alcohol kegs. There were probably soldiers at the back door too, but there was a secret exit that even the local militia didn’t know about.

Natsu pulled up a floorboard to reveal a dark underground tunnel. Lucy didn’t even hesitate to jump down. Grinning at her gumption, Natsu followed after her.

“Where does this go?” she asked as she followed him through the tunnel.

“Just a block down,” Natsu said. “The Strausses’ house.”

“The Strausses?”

“Mira, Elf, and— Mirajane and Elfman Strauss. You didn’t see Elfman, but he’s Mira’s younger brother.”

“Why is there a secret tunnel from the tavern to their house?”

Natsu shrugged. “It’s always been here, ever since Fairy Tail was a guild. The place used to be empty, but the Strausses moved in when they came to Magnolia.”

At the end of the tunnel, Natsu lifted the floorboards and climbed into the Strausses’ large linen closet. He looked to the left and saw a dusty photo frame sitting on a shelf. It was an old picture of the Strauss siblings, all three of them smiling in a row with their white hair up in pigtails, even Elfman. It was a fond memory.

Natsu looked down and Lucy was already halfway out of the hole. He helped her the rest of the way. He brought her to the front door, following a familiar path through the familiar house. They exited the Strauss home, casually walking away from the crowd of soldiers at the end of the block.

“Now what?” Lucy said.

“Now we go find Happy at Wendy’s place.”

“Will we be safe until we leave tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” He laughed. As if. “No. We’re leaving today.”


	6. Chapter 6

By the time they gathered the whole team, Natsu had a black eye from Erza, a broken lip from Gray, and a sore shin thanks to Levy.

“You’re an idiot,” Erza said for probably the hundredth time.

“I said we should leave today,” Natsu grumbled, kicking a pebble in their path.

“You could’ve laid low until the rest of us were ready to leave instead of running around like a chicken with your head cut off.”

“Being cooped up in the house is so boring,” Natsu complained. “Right, Lucy?”

Lucy hesitated. “I mean, I don’t really mind…”

“You’re no help.” He kicked another rock.

“Well, you got to leave Magnolia earlier,” Levy said. “Are you satisfied?”

“Yeah,” Natsu said. “You didn’t have to kick me though.”

“But I did. Because you’re an idiot.”

Natsu pouted and kicked yet another rock. He aimed for Gray’s head but missed without Gray even noticing. Well, he’d have plenty of time to start a fight before they reached the north. It was about a week’s journey to their destination.

The land surrounding Magnolia was suburban and tree-spotted, random cottages perched on top of hills and dug into hillsides. There were a few patches of woods, like the one his and Happy’s house was located in, but mostly it was just open expanses of green. A fresh breeze rolled across the grasses, carrying with it the faint scent of lavender.

The girls chattered about books as they walked. Well, it was mostly just Levy and Lucy talking about their favorite literature, Levy updating Lucy on new books that had come out in the past couple years since apparently Lucy hadn’t gotten to read much during her travels. Wendy contributed to the discussion a little, but it turned out Erza didn’t know anything that wasn’t a battle tactics text.

Not that Natsu could judge her much for it. However many books Erza had read, that was how many more she’d read than Natsu. It’s not that he hated reading; he just couldn’t get into it.

When the sun started to set, they camped out underneath a small stand of conifers. Happy gathered firewood and Natsu started the fire, bringing it up to the perfect height for cooking.

“I got dinner,” Erza said, throwing a large boar down on the ground. She wiped her brow. “Hard to find wildlife around here. Too many homes and farms.”

“I’ll cut it up,” Gray said. “Levy, you take care of the spices.”

“Right.”

“Natsu, make yourself useful.”

“I made the fire,” he said, pointing.

“And now you’re done, so do something else. Help Wendy, Lucy, and Charle with the tents.”

“Don’t boss me around, Ice Breath.”

“If you don’t do it, I’ll make you, Chili Paste.”

“Stripper.”

“Charcoal-for-Brains.”

“Ice Prince.”

“Asshole.”

“Will you two _cut it out_?” Levy said, exasperated. “Natsu, go set up camp if you’re not going to help cook. Where’d Happy go?”

“Getting more firewood,” Natsu said.

“See? Even he’s helping.”

“Fine,” Natsu grumbled, ambling over to the tents. The bottom tarps were staked into the ground, but Lucy and Wendy were struggling to get them propped up properly. Charle was sorting the poles by length.

“Good, Natsu’s here,” Wendy said. “Here, Natsu, help Lucy with the poles. I’m too short for this.”

“Then what will you do?”

“Hand you the poles you need. Help Charle sort them.”

Natsu took over for Wendy until the tents started to look like real shelters.

“Good,” Erza said, coming over to inspect their work. “This will keep us safe from falling needles and sap.”

“I call the big one!” Natsu said, throwing his pack and sleeping mat into the largest of the tents.

“You’ll still have to share,” Erza said. “There are only four tents, but there are six humans.”

“Yeah, but it’s bigger.”

“You do realize whom you’ll have to share with, right?”

“Lucy,” Natsu said easily.

“No. Lucy’s a woman, and I imagine she’ll be more comfortable sharing a tent with a fellow woman. The boys will have to share.”

Natsu looked over and met Gray’s eyes. They were both thinking the same thing: “No.”

“Okay, then how about this? Lucy can share with Levy,” Erza said, retrieving Natsu’s things from the largest tent and moving them into a small one. “You and Gray get the individual tents. That should keep you two from fighting. Wendy and I will share the other big tent. Is everyone happy with these arrangements?”

Natsu was about to dissent, still wanting to stay in a bigger tent, but Lucy was satisfied and soon they were all in agreement except for him. Sighing, he looked at the tiny individual tent he’d be stuck in. That thing was so small it wasn’t even worth using. So what if he got sticky sap on him in the morning? At least he’d have enough room to roll over.

“Wait,” Natsu said, “what about Happy? Where will he sleep? There isn’t enough room in the small tent.”

“He can stay in one of the girls’ tents,” Erza said.

“But he’s a boy. You said boys can’t share with girls.”

“I said Lucy would be more comfortable with a girl, and she agreed. Besides, Happy’s an exceed. He doesn’t count.”

Natsu scowled. Looked like he wasn’t going to win this one. He’d just be stuck in the tiny tent for this job. He wasn’t happy about it, but there wasn’t much he could do when everyone else agreed with Erza.

Conversation was loud over dinner, all of them talking and shouting over the huge roast boar. Then as the firelight dimmed, they all went into their tents to sleep.

Only Natsu stayed outside, sitting by the fire and watching the embers burn. Fire never ceased to fascinate him. It appeared seemingly from nowhere, as if it were floating around the wood it burned, just glowing bits of energy dissipating into the night.

He heard a rustle and looked up to see Lucy leaving the tent she shared with Levy. She paused when she saw him awake, but ventured over and sat down next to him.

“Can’t sleep?” she said.

“Don’t wanna,” Natsu said. “The tiny tents are uncomfortable.”

“Sorry about that,” Lucy said. “I can talk to Erza about it if it really bothers you.”

“Nah. You should sleep with Levy. Girls bein’ friends, and all that.”

“Next time we’ll camp in a field so you don’t have to worry about pinecones and things falling on you in the night. Then the tents won’t be necessary.”

“Yeah. That’d be nice.”

A cricket nearby began to chirp loudly, distracting them for a moment before the sound faded away.

“You’re getting along with everyone already,” Natsu said, throwing a dry stick into the fire.

Lucy smiled faintly, watching the burst of sparks as the flames licked their new prey. “Yeah. Everyone’s nice, so it’s easy.”

“Why did you work alone all this time?” he asked. “With us you’re pretty social—” and a bit flashy, but he’d never say that out loud “—so it must’ve been lonely all by yourself. Or are you just bad at teamwork or something?”

“I rely on teamwork all the time with my spirits,” Lucy pointed out, hand subconsciously moving to her keys.

“Oh. Yeah.”

“I guess it’s mostly because of who I am. If I had comrades, they would be hunted down, too. And I don’t want anyone else to be in danger because of me; the whole reason I do what I do is to protect people, so it would make no sense.”

“Then why are you with us now?” he couldn’t help but ask.

She frowned, shoulders sinking. “I have a bad feeling about all this,” she said in a low voice. “That meeting we saw a few days ago, what Makarov told us…something’s not right in the world. I won’t be able to solve this alone.” She turned to Natsu, amusement in her eyes. “Not that you’d let me if I tried. You were the one who followed me onto the roof of that mansion in the first place.”

Natsu grinned. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”

“I’ve worked alone until now, with no one other than my spirits, and it was my choice to do so. But to continue that way of thinking even now would be naïve. I’ve seen your strength; you and your friends are a valuable asset.”

“More like you’re a valuable asset to us,” Natsu said. “We’re Fairy Tail; _you’re_ the tagalong.”

“You’ve got a point,” Lucy said, laughing.

“Well, you know why I’m up. What about you?”

She smiled at him. “Can’t sleep.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. This just happens sometimes.”

“Did you call out Plue?”

Lucy nodded. “He’s still in the tent; he fell asleep before I did.” She picked up a stick and poked at the fire. Sparks danced in response.

As she watched the flames rise into the night air, he watched the warm light flicker across her face. The fire was reflected in her eyes, turning the warm brown into a gold that glowed like embers. Why couldn’t he stop looking at her?

“What?” She noticed him staring. Again.

“Nothing,” he said. “You look tired. Go to sleep.”

“I just want to watch the fire for a little while,” she said. “It’s pretty.”

Natsu turned to the campfire in front of them. “Yeah,” he said. “Fire is always beautiful.”

 

It took them several more days until they reached the northern forest, which meant several more days of the same sleeping arrangements. Somehow, Natsu and Lucy’s post-bedtime conversations by the campfire became a tradition for just the two of them, the only exception being once when Wendy joined them to make a trio of insomniacs. During the day, Lucy smiled and laughed with the Fairy Tail girls. At night, her smiles sobered and became gentle as she talked to Natsu.

And somewhere along the line, Natsu decided that he trusted her.

He really wasn’t sure where that feeling came from; it just appeared one day when they were sitting together in the darkness, watching the fire. He realized that he felt comfortable and safe around her, the same way he did with Happy. It had only been a week, but he already considered her a friend and an ally.

Damn. He had it bad, didn’t he? Even Wendy and Erza seemed to notice the way he gravitated toward her, the way he smiled even more than usual whenever they bantered with each other.

They really did have a good rapport, and Natsu only hoped their teamwork in battles was as good as their conversation, because how awesome would it be to have the great Celestial Spirit as a partner? She was one of the strongest and most famous mages still publicly active. He couldn’t wait to see her in action.

That day would come soon, it seemed, because they hadn’t been in the northern forest for two days when they encountered their target.

A woman with a feathered dress and long white hair stood at the edge of a stream, her sharp eyes waiting for the group. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

Gray smiled and stepped forward, hands coming together in the pose he used to initiate his magic. “Looking for you, actually. You’re one of Oración Seis, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” the woman said, subtly moving her body into a fighting stance of her own. “What is it you want with us?”

“Wait,” Lucy interrupted, stepping forward. “I’ll take care of Angel.”

Natsu and the others responded with collective confusion, especially when this “Angel” person took a step backward in shock.

“The Celestial Spirit,” she breathed, awestruck. Then her eyes narrowed into an even harsher gaze than before. “Good. Now I can avenge my humiliation at your hands all those years ago. You took my spirits.” Natsu was startled to hear that there were celestial mages other than Lucy. But Lucy was obviously the superior mage, if she had beaten Angel in the past. No matter what magic Angel used now, she was a fool for challenging the Celestial Spirit a second time.

Lucy was unperturbed. “Are you so eager to be defeated by the very spirits you tortured and abused? I’m sure they desire revenge even more than you do.”

“Then I’ll just have to take them back and make them pay for their betrayal.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“I’ve learned new magic. You, who can only summon spirits, could never compete with someone on my level.”

“Try me.”

The two women sprang forward, arms sweeping outward to activate their magic. The battle against Oración Seis had begun.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: 
> 
> This chapter contains some fairly graphic descriptions at the end. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you want to avoid it, it starts in the paragraph that begins with "But no". I'll summarize what happened at the end of the chapter for those who (like me) are total wimps.

Before Natsu could even blink, Angel was lying on the ground tangled in Lucy’s whip, snarling. Lucy hadn’t even reached for her spirits’ keys.

“Fight me properly,” Angel growled as Lucy sauntered back to Erza to take a pair of anti-magic cuffs.

“Sorry,” Lucy said, cuffing Angel’s hands behind her back. “We’re in a bit of a rush so I don’t have time to play with you.”

“I learned new celestial magic just so I could defeat you. I will win back my spirits,” Angel insisted.

Lucy disengaged her whip, tucking it back through her belt loop. She looked down at Angel, frowning. “When we’re all done, maybe I’ll humor you. That’s if you tell us where your base is.”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Angel snapped.

Gray turned to Natsu. “Hey. Why did we even have to come along? Lucy’s good enough to take them all by herself,” he said.

Natsu shrugged. “Ask Makarov. Maybe this one’s just weak.”

“That’s right,” Angel said with a laugh. “Even the Celestial Spirit won’t be able to take on the others. Once they realize what happened to me, you’re all dead.”

“Not if we find them first,” Natsu said. “Wendy, can you do that for us?”

Wendy looked at him and nodded. “I’m on it.” Closing her eyes, she spread her arms wide. A light breeze rustled the leaves on the trees around them, sweeping through Natsu’s hair. Wendy’s relationship with the air was intimate. She didn’t have to see things with her eyes to know they were there, so long as they obstructed the wind.

Eyes on Wendy, they silently waited.

“There’s a cave,” Wendy said, “two kilometers to the north. There is one figure standing outside of it. Four others are hiding nearby in the trees, probably watching us and waiting to ambush.”

“That cave might be their hideout,” Erza said. “Wendy, take Levy there to investigate. The rest of us will stay here and fight the potential ambush.”

“There is also an unnatural mountainous structure to the east,” Wendy said. “Be careful.”

“So that’s where they’re keeping the demon, huh?” Natsu said, narrowing his eyes.

Gray nodded tersely. “Deliora was frozen in a block of unmeltable ice. It was supposed to be sent to the polar north, but if they brought it down here to revive it, it’d be awfully hard to hide. Deliora’s huge.”

“Then we defeat the Oración Seis first, take care of the demon second,” Erza said. “Wendy, Levy, get going. Good luck.”

“There’s two of us and only one of them,” Levy said. “We’ve got it covered.”

Charle sprouted wings and picked up Levy. Wendy worked up a wind, and together they flew off to the north. Natsu turned his focus to the forest around them. Somewhere in here, the rest of Oración Seis were hiding, and he had to smoke them out before any of them could go after Wendy and Levy.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he shouted. He ran forward and spewed a large circle of fire covering the whole area in their vicinity. When he said he was going to smoke them out, he meant it literally.

“Watch it, Natsu,” came a deep voice. Natsu looked behind them. Approaching them was a man in a dark robe, and when the hood was pulled back, it revealed blue hair and red symbol over his eye. Jellal?

“What’re you doing here?” Natsu blurted.

Gray put up a hand. “Yo. Long time no see.”

“I would like to ask the same question as Natsu,” Erza said, crossing her arms.

“I have some business with the Oración Seis. I see Fairy Tail does as well,” Jellal said. He walked closer to Erza to whisper a few things in her ear. Natsu sighed; they held secret conversations every time they met, it seemed.

Lucy came over and nudged Natsu in the side. She nodded toward Jellal and Erza. “Who’s the guy with the tattoo?” she said. “I’m guessing he’s a friend?”

“Sort of. That’s Jellal Fernandes. He’s haunted by his past sins, or some shit.”

Jellal turned and leveled a hard look at Natsu. “It’s not just ‘some shit,’ Natsu.”

“I know what you did,” Natsu called back. “Pretty sure it more than counts as shit. It was some pretty dark shit, too.”

Erza crossed her arms. “If you’re turning this into a poop allegory, I swear to the gods…”

“I’m not! I’m just saying his life was fucking shitty and he did some really fucking shitty things,” Natsu said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.

“Guys, _focus_ ,” Gray shouted. “While you were bickering, we got some company.”

Gray was right. “Shit,” Natsu said, pushing Lucy away so he could surround himself with defensive fire just in time to block a quick attack. The attacker came and went in a blur, so fast that even Natsu couldn’t get eyes on them.

“We’ve got a time manipulator,” Jellal said, watching the blur disappear back into the trees.

“You sure it’s not just speed magic?” Erza said.

“I know this magic. He’s not that fast; he’s just manipulating the space around us so everyone but him becomes slow. I’ll take care of that guy. You all stay here; I can feel several points of magic power approaching, and since we’re in that guy’s time magic, they’re approaching quickly.”

“Three, right?”

Jellal nodded. “I saw you guys send off Wendy and Levy. I’ll keep the speedy guy from reaching them. You guys take care of the rest.”

“Why do we gotta listen to you?” Natsu griped, but he didn’t try to stop Jellal from running in the direction Wendy and Levy left. One less enemy for Natsu to worry about, and one less ally to coordinate with. Natsu wasn’t great at teamwork, what with his fire burning everything in his path. The fewer allies he had to watch out for, the better.

The ground underneath Natsu’s feet was becoming soft. Was this the doing of another enemy? His feet sank into the malleable dirt, extinguishing parts of his fire. Natsu growled. How inconvenient.

Parts of the ground began to ripple like waves as a new face stepped into view, silently smilng. This dude was huge and strangely square-ish. He looked like he was made out of stone or crystals, probably a side-effect of using too much earth magic.

A sudden chill came from behind Natsu. “I’ll take this one,” Gray said. Natsu turned and saw a large section of the ground had been frozen around Gray. A mage that softened and a mage that hardened, each with a different element. Perhaps that was the best matchup.

“Keep him away from here,” Natsu said. “This whole mud thing is annoying.”

“You’re annoying.”

“Just get out of here.”

Natsu was mildly surprised when Gray actually used his magic to move several meters away, drawing the earth magic user with him. One less enemy, one less ally.

To Natsu’s side, Erza tensed. Did she detect something?

Natsu’s sharp ears listened for movements in the forest around them. He couldn’t hear anything other than Gray and that tall, geometric dude he was fighting in the distance.

Then two figures burst from the trees, and Natsu only had enough time to throw up a quick block to repel his enemy’s attack. He blinked, and looked into sneering red eyes. He knew this guy’s face. But from where…?

Natsu hardly had the time to think before a fist connected to his stomach, making use of his momentary distraction. Natsu growled and leapt away. He stared down his opponent, analyzing his stance. Obviously he was fast and good at fist-fighting, but so far he hadn’t used any magic. It was hard to get a read on him.

The enemy smirked. “Just give up now. I can hear your moves before you even make them.”

“Who are you?”

“A dragon slayer.”

“Same here.” Natsu fired up his fists and clocked the cocky bastard in the jaw. Or, he tried, but the move was anticipated and he missed. But Natsu didn’t give up, aiming one punch and kick after another. Soon he became frustrated. Literally none of his attacks were landing.

“Fire magic, huh? Well, even fire magic users are weak to poison. And your ears aren’t as sensitive as mine, thanks to my sound magic. Like I said, just give up.”

Poison. That jogged Natsu’s memory, and he realized he’d seen this man’s face on wanted posters a while back. He was known as Cobra, a poison user who had caused some pretty gruesome mage deaths back in the day. But there had been nothing on those wanted posters to indicate he was a dragon slayer, or Natsu would have remembered it. Just how many dragons had taught humans their magic?

Well, no matter. If only Natsu could land a hit…

Something whizzed by him, countering a strike that had been coming from his left side unnoticed. Natsu turned to see his savior, and…was that a centaur with a bow and arrows standing by Lucy on the opposite riverbank? No, it was just a guy wearing a horse hood. Who had hooves. What was with these celestial spirits?

“Thanks for the backup,” Natsu called, refocusing on the enemy in front of him.

“Sagittarius, cover our blind spots.”

“Hello, yes.”

Soon Natsu was aware of another presence beside him. Lucy was joining the fight.

“Careful not to get burned,” Natsu said. He was _really_ not good at teamwork.

Lucy just tightened her grip on her whip. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Worry about yourself.” She let out a loud shout as she joined the brawl.

Natsu aimed a punch at Cobra and missed, again. He whirled around to block the coming attack, only to find that Lucy had already beat him to the punch, tripping him up with her whip.

“How’d you do that?” Natsu asked. He hadn’t been able to land a hit at all, yet she did it so easily.

“Yelling,” Lucy said simply. She resumed her shouts, causing Cobra to wince.

Oh. That was…brilliantly simple. He felt like an idiot for not realizing it for himself.

A slow smile spread across his face as he looked at Cobra. “Oh? So your ears start to hurt if we yell too loud, huh?”

Lucy was still screaming, and gods did she some strong lungs.

Cobra scowled. “I don’t need to hear your movements to destroy you. Don’t forget I’m still a dragon slayer.”

“Oh yeah? Don’t forget: so am I.” Natsu punched his fists together, unleashing a whirling burst of flames in Cobra’s direction. Without skipping a beat, he followed up by leaping after the fire with his signature flaming punch. Cobra managed to dodge yet again, but his reaction time was significantly slower, and he stumbled backwards.

Natsu grinned. Suddenly he had gained the upper hand.

Two more flaming punches and Cobra was on the ground, arms pinned by Natsu’s knees.

“Who’s destroying who now?” Natsu taunted. The poison from Cobra’s claw-like fingers was starting to seep through his veins in his left arm where he’d been struck, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Now that Cobra was distracted by Lucy’s shrieking, he was an easy target.

“Just make her stop already,” Cobra ground out, glaring in Lucy’s direction.

Natsu shook his head. “Nah. Not until I get a few more punches in to get you back for all the hits you landed thanks to that cheating magic.”

“It’s sound magic.”

“Same thing.”

Once he was done getting his little revenge, Cobra was tied up tight with Lucy’s whip and then cuffed by Erza. The red, swollen face on his fellow dragon slayer pleased Natsu greatly. What was the point of winning if your opponent didn’t come out looking worse than you did?

Sometime during Natsu’s fight with Cobra, Erza and Gray had also won their respective battles. The man Erza fought was knocked out completely, and Natsu wondered if she’d accidentally killed him. For the amount of violence Erza inflicted on her opponents, she had a surprisingly low kill rate.

“This guy was Zero, their guildmaster,” Erza said, stomping her boot on the poor guy’s head to rub his face in the dirt. “Now that we’ve taken out their leader, they’re all done for.”

“Is that the last of them, then?” Natsu said, wiping his hands on his pants.

“No,” Gray said, nodding to the forest. “We’ve got one more.”

A young person emerged from the trees, hand lazily covering their mouth as they yawned. Their hair was black and wild except for two beaded locks of white that framed their face. They were androgynous and frail-looking, but an aura of evil and darkness wafted around them. It was an aura similar to Erza’s opponent, but not quite as powerful. Still, Natsu had a bad feeling.

“Are you with the Oración Seis?” Erza demanded. “Speak your intentions.”

“Yeah, he’s with us,” Cobra croaked. A sly grin crossed his face. “If Midnight woke up, you’re all in a big deal of trouble.”

“So your name’s Midnight, eh?” Natsu said, pounding his fists and looking at the new person. “You look strong. This’ll be fun.”

“You’re too naïve,” Cobra said, snickering.

Lucy nudged his face with her boot. “You’re one to talk,” she said.

“Yeah, we just kicked your ass,” Natsu said. “Just pass out alread…y….”

The sky was clouded over in a foreboding shade of purple that for some reason reminded Natsu of dried blood. The trees disappeared. He wasn’t sure what this magic was, but in an instant everything around him became consumed in this enemy’s darkness.

Natsu looked to his right. Erza was already on the ground, gasping for breath as if the darkness was suffocating her. Gray was gone. Was he fighting Midnight?

But no, Midnight was still standing there at the edge of the forest, waves of dark _something_ emanating from his body. His body started to bubble, skin boiling and peeling off in huge, wet chunks that squelched as they hit the ground. As Natsu watched, eyes widening, Midnight’s body grew and transformed into some hideous creature with five arms and a grotesque face covered in wrinkles and hair.

What kind of horrible magic was this? Even Mira’s demon takeover magic had never given off such an evil aura. Natsu swallowed thickly. Maybe he’d underestimated this guy a little bit. And after fighting Cobra, Natsu’s magic power was already somewhat drained. He’d have to be strategic about this.

Before Natsu could even react, Midnight moved forward, lunging toward Natsu. Natsu dodged, rolling out of the way and skidding to a stop, ready to attack. But Midnight’s aim wasn’t Natsu, and he realized this a moment too late.

Lucy’s head was no longer attached to her body.

Torn skin ragged and limp hanging from what was left of her neck.

Natsu couldn’t tear his eyes away from the beheaded form of his new acquaintance, no, his new friend. He begged his muscles to move, to fight, to stop this horrific vision in front of his eyes, to rip up the fiend who had dared to do this to his friend, but they were still as stone.

But the sight of her head, silky golden hair contrasted with the bloody lumps of flesh it was attached to, threw him over the edge.

It all came bubbling out. That familiar horror, the grief, all came at once, rushing from inside his chest and bursting out in a scream so ragged it felt like he came from outside himself.

He fell to his knees, limp and helpless. He couldn’t fight anymore. It was over. He’d dodged and let her die. It was his fault. Lucy was dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who skipped/skimmed, Midnight turned into some grotesque creature and decapitated Lucy. Natsu freaks out that it's his fault, and can't move. Lucy's dead. End of chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

Natsu cried with a voice that was not his own. Lucy...no…this couldn’t be happening.

He wanted to go into a rage, but instead he just stood there in shock. His heart must be racing a mile a minute, but he couldn’t even feel anything. Every bit of him was focused on the horrific vision before him; there was no room for anything else to fill his mind.

Then, suddenly, the world snapped back to normal.

He blinked. Lucy was standing right where she had been before, the only difference was that her eyes were wide and overflowing with tears. Behind him, Erza was grappling with Midnight. So had that all been an illusion? But it was the most vivid and immersive illusion magic Natsu had ever experienced. Fairy Tail’s first guildmaster was supposed to have powerful illusion magic, but this was the first time Natsu had experienced it for himself. And it was terrifying.

Natsu didn’t know how the illusion had been dispersed, but it probably had something to do with Erza, given how she was already fighting Midnight in hand-to-hand combat by the time Natsu’s vision had cleared. He would leave her to it. Right now all he wanted to do was confirm that this, what he was seeing now, was the _true_ reality.

Stepping forward, hesitantly, he approached Lucy. She looked at him.

“My…my head was…”

Natsu swallowed. “I saw it too.”

“It…it was an illusion, right?” she said, putting her hands to her face. She patted around her head, affirming its presence. He did the same, reaching out to brush tears from her cheek. They were cool to the touch, and her skin soft.

“You’re real,” he said aloud, just as much for himself as for her. “This, now, is real.”

Lucy let out a long, shaky breath and wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hands. “That was some illusion,” she said with a weak laugh. She looked over Natsu’s shoulder. “Will Erza be okay?”

“I don’t think she was affected,” Natsu said. “She looks fine to me.”

“We should help,” Lucy said, reaching for her whip. Natsu’s hand stopped her.

“We can step in if she needs us,” he said. His hand curled around hers. She was trembling. And, well, so was he. This Midnight person sure knew how to come up with gruesome images.

Natsu caught a whiff of Jellal’s scent, and then the man himself returned to stand by the riverbank on the opposite side from where all the fighting had been taking place.

“What’s going on here?” Jellal said. “And why aren’t you helping— Wait, what happened?” Jellal seemed to notice that something was off with Natsu and Lucy, because he stopped and approached them when he met Natsu’s eyes.

“That Midnight guy has some interesting magic,” Natsu said through his grimace.

“Illusions,” Lucy supplied. “It was…vivid.”

“Ah. I see,” Jellal said. He looked to where Erza had just pierced Midnight through the gut. “Well, looks like Erza’s holding her own.”

“Of course she is,” Happy said. “She’s Erza.”

Natsu looked down. “Happy! Where’ve you been all this time?”

“Hiding,” Lucy said, annoyance in her tone. “He was with me up until I left Sagittarius to help you with Cobra.”

“I protected your celestial spirit,” Happy said, nose in the air and tail held high. “You’re welcome.”

Lucy sighed. “You useless cat.”

“Hey,” Natsu said. “Happy is my best friend. He’s not useless.”

“Yeah,” Happy chimed in. “You’ll take those words back when you need me to fly you somewhere. And I won’t help you until you tell me I’m great.”

Lucy waved a hand. “Yeah, whatever. Oh, hi, Gray. What was _your_ illusion?”

“Apparently not as bad as you two’s,” Gray said as he approached them, but Natsu could tell that his face was a little paler than usual. “Jellal, what’s the situation on Wendy and Levy?”

“They were already in the cave when I arrived. According to Charle, the person guarding the hideout wasn’t actually a person at all; it was a magical staff belonging to the guildmaster. They took it out no problem. It looked like they had everything covered, so I came back here.”

“And Deliora?”

“Not there,” Jellal said.

“Then it must be that big hill Wendy mentioned,” Gray said.

Jellal looked up sharply and winced. “Oh! That oughtta hurt. Nice one, Erza!”

They all turned their attention to where Erza had Midnight pinned to the dirt by a sword driven through his stomach. Midnight was already a bloody mess, eyes bulging and his chest rapidly heaving as he gasped for breath.

Erza looked up to see the rest all watching her intently. She gave them a sly smile. “Oración Seis didn’t put up that much of a fight after all,” she said.

“Only because of the team you assembld,” Jellal said. “I was surprised to see all of you here together. Especially you, Natsu; it’s been two years since you’ve done any jobs for Fairy Tail, if I remember correctly.”

“You’ve been keeping tabs,” Natsu observed.

“I probably visit the guild more than you do,” Jellal said. “Well, I’m glad I saw all of you here. Makes completing my objective a lot easier.”

“Yeah, why _are_ you here, anyway?” Gray said.

“Same reason you are, I guess. Or maybe a little different.”

“We’re here to stop them from reviving Deliora,” Lucy said.

“Then it’s a little different. I’m just here to whip these kids back in shape. Zero’s the one in charge of this dark guild, but the rest are just kids that he took in. They were orphans in the Tower just like me and Erza. I, uh…well, I let Zero take them, so I came to take them back.”

“They’re all yours,” Erza said, tossing a bleeding Midnight on top of Cobra, who by now was unconscious. “I’m not going to have Wendy waste her magic healing them, though.”

“I won’t let them die,” Jellal promised. “I came here to take them back, so I’ll do just that.”

“This is two of them. The other two are over there, and the fifth is…?”

“Across the creek,” Jellal said, pointing. Natsu couldn’t see anything but trees, but there was another person’s scent somewhere over there. Probably the speedy guy.

“Then that’s that,” Erza said. “Next?”

“But Erza,” Lucy said, “are you okay? Midnight’s illusions were really gruesome. Maybe you should rest a bit first.”

Erza smiled. “If you’re worried that I’m shaken because of some illusion, don’t be. I didn’t see one.” She brushed aside her bangs to point at her right eye. “This eye is a prosthetic. Illusion magic manipulates what the eye sees, but this eye is an object, not flesh. It cannot be manipulated by such magic.”

“You have a glass eye?” Lucy marveled. “Don’t knights need to take a vision test to get qualified? Even if you can still see with it, they’re strict about those things.”

“I may have intimidated the tester a bit,” Erza said, smiling mischievously. “Having one fake eye mostly just messes with my long-distance depth perception; it is a magic object, after all, so I can still see out of it okay. And it means illusions are useless on me, so really it’s an advantage.”

“It may be an advantage, but you have to gouge your eye out to get it,” Gray said.

“Well, in my case it wasn’t voluntary,” Erza said, walking back to where she was fighting and pulling a second sword from the ground. She took another pair of cuffs from her belt and slapped them on Midnight’s wrists. “There. That’s the last of them.”

“Not quite,” Lucy said, hand still on her whip. “It might just be that demon mountain Wendy spoke about, but there’s something evil out there.”

“Deliora,” Gray said darkly.

“But we already defeated all of Oración Seis, so they can’t revive it anymore, right?” Natsu said.

Gray shook his head. “Wrong. The magic used to seal Deliora cost my teacher’s life, but there _is_ a way to wear it down. If they’ve already started the process, we need to go stop it. Now.”

“Right,” Erza said. “Let’s go. Jellal?”

“I’ll catch up,” he said. “I need to secure the Oración Seis members first.”

Erza nodded. “Thanks. Then, we’ll go ahead first.”

They followed Wendy’s directions and Lucy’s sense for magical energies until they reached a large clearing, at the center of which was a huge block of ice. It towered above them, taller than even the trees. If not for the thickness of the treetop canopy, they would have seen it long ago; it was that massive.

The ice was fogged over, its transparency warped by dust and debris and streams of water that trickled down its sides, but Natsu could see something huge and dark at the center. Looking closer, he could make out a wide, muscular body and powerful jaws open wide as if caught in the middle of a cry of rage.

Natsu lowered himself into a fighting stance. The ice that trapped it was thin. Whatever methods Oración Seis had used to undo the seal Gray’s teacher had put on this thing, they were working, and fast.

“Shit,” Gray muttered. “Hey, Kindling, don’t use your fire around this thing. Normal flames shouldn’t be able to melt it, but at this stage…”

“Gray, do you know how they did this?” Erza asked.

“It can only be unsealed by concentrating the power of the moon into this…well, it’s a purple-ish substance, I’m not sure what to call it. I’ve only seen it once, when I was a kid and Lyon was trying to do this very thing. He didn’t succeed, obviously. But once any part of Deliora is exposed to the air, the seal will break. We need to stop the ice from melting.”

“Not to be a joykill or anything,” Lucy said, “but it looks like it’s a bit late for that.”

Gray licked his lips. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Natsu said impatiently. “That thing’s gonna awaken soon, and we’ve gotta stop it, right?”

“Right,” Erza said. “I hope you’re not all too exhausted from that fight with Oración Seis just now.”

“I’d say we have a few minutes, but no more than that,” Jellal said. “Look, the ice over the left arm is almost entirely melted. You said even one part exposed will break the whole seal, right?”

Gray nodded. “Yeah. Unfortunately. The moon drip is this spell’s one weakness.”

“Then we’ll just have to fight it,” Erza said.

“Let’s do this,” Natsu said, lighting his fists on fire. He’d only taken out one guy, and he was itching for another fight.

Lucy nodded, and her hand flew to her keys. “Open the gate of the Lion, Leo!”

There was a flash of light and a man appeared by Lucy’s side. His hair was wild and orange, and Natsu would recognize that obnoxious outfit anywhere.

Natsu gaped, fire extinguishing immediately. “ _Loke?!”_

Loke’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

Lucy looked between all of them. “What? What is it?”

“You’re a celestial spirit?” Gray exclaimed, flabbergasted.

Loke looked panicked. “I-I can explain.”

“We know him,” Jellal said for Lucy’s benefit. “He’s a member of Fairy Tail.”

“Leo is?”

“Well, he goes by Loke.”

“We can talk this out later,” Loke said, pushing his rosy glasses up his nose. “Right now, I got called out for a reason. I assume it’s that big monster over there.”

“Yeah. It’s called Deliora,” Gray said. “And it’s one hell of a demon.”

Loke smirked. “Perfect. You guys know who I am now, so I won’t hold back.”

“You’ve been holding back? No wonder you’re always so damn weak,” Natsu said.

“No fighting amongst each other,” Erza ordered, triggering a chorus of _yes, ma’ams._ “Loke, Lucy, you take the right side. Natsu and Gray take left. Jellal and I will hold the center. We don’t know how much longer until this thing awakens, but we need to be ready when it does, so don’t let down your guard no matter how long we have to wait. Understood?”

There was another chorus of _yes, ma’ams_ , and they spread out. Natsu eyed Lucy and Loke standing on the other side of the demon, talking animatedly while they both kept their eyes on Deliora.

“We need to get an explanation out of Loke when this is all over,” Gray said. He stood by Natsu, periodically smacking his hands together as he swung his arms. For someone who had some childhood trauma regarding this demon, he was awfully composed.

“I’d say the same about Jellal, but I don’t think we’d get one,” Natsu said. If anyone were going to hear about the exact nature of Jellal’s relationship with the Oración Seis, it would be Erza, and Erza alone.

They stood around Deliora, waiting. And waiting.

And waiting.

“I’m bored,” Happy complained, rubbing his face on Natsu’s leg.

“Same,” said Natsu.

“Gray, do you know if there is any chance we can speed up the process?” Erza asked. “If we can accelerate the melt rate of the ice, we can control when Deliora is released from the seal. That would give us the advantage of preparedness.”

Gray furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the thin ice just barely covering Deliora’s left arm. “Uhh…I don’t know. The moon drip is already applied, and I don’t know how fast it’s eating through the ice; it could’ve taken either days or months for it to get this far for all I know. Like I said, Lyon was never successful in getting more than a drop of the stuff.”

“So, you don’t have a clue,” Natsu concluded.

“The ice might be more brittle, so we could try breaking it ourselves?”

Oh. Natsu liked that suggestion. He pounded his fists together and leapt in the air, aiming his arc to land on the thinnest part of the ice.

“Natsu, wait!” Erza shouted, but he was already in action and he wasn’t about to back down. There was no way he was waiting around for hours just to see if this thing would melt. Giving it a good smack was worth a shot.

With the full force of his flames behind him, Natsu slammed into the thin patch of ice, letting a violent explosion tear through the air around him. Natsu landed in a crouch in front of Gray, eyes on Deliora’s left arm.

Gray was right; this ice was impervious, even to fire magic. Natsu’s explosive fire hadn’t even made a dent.

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Natsu said, standing up and brushing off his hands. But his sentence hadn’t even finished before a large snap reached his ears.

All eyes went to Deliora. The area around where Natsu had aimed his explosion, the thinnest section of ice, now had a large crack through it. The ice had become brittle from the moon drip after all.

Another loud crack, and a chunk of ice fell from Deliora’s arm, exposing the lumpy grayish skin underneath.

“Get ready! Here it comes,” Erza called, readying her swords.

A huge rush of air sucked into the gap in the ice, filling the vacuum. Pressure from inside building, the icy seal cracked once more, then shattered.


	9. Chapter 9

Ice showered around them as they stood surrounding Deliora in fighting stance, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make the first move. There was a loud groan as the demon’s limbs began to move, released from the ice that encased it for decades. Its body moved forward.

…and promptly collapsed, falling to pieces.

Gray was the first to speak. “What the hell?”

“So you’re telling me I got my identity exposed so I could fight this thing, and it isn’t even alive in the first place?” Loke said, sighing loudly.

Natsu stepped forward and poked the creature’s shoulder. The skin instantly crumbled, dried and brittle. “Well, this is boring,” he said, kicking another chunk of demon and watching it fall apart.

“This demon may have been a dud,” Lucy said, “but there are plenty of very real and very alive ones being revived across Fiore every month. And we _did_ put a stop to the Oración Seis.”

“They were just a bunch of misguided kids,” Jellal said. “It’s my fault they’re like that anyway. I’ll take full responsibility for their rehabilitation.”

“Don’t mess it up,” Natsu warned.

Jellal nodded. “I won’t.”

“So?” Lucy said. “Now what do we do?”

“Maybe Levy found something out in their base,” Natsu said.

“Oh yeah,” Lucy said, “Levy and Wendy! We should see how they’re doing.”

“And I could use Wendy for my dislocated shoulder,” Erza said.

They started to move toward where Wendy and Levy had disappeared off to, but Natsu noticed that two were being left behind. He paused. Gray was kneeling by Deliora’s disintegrated head, Lucy standing alone behind him. Natsu hadn’t been paying much attention to Gray’s emotional state, but it made sense that this whole ordeal dredged up some bad memories.

Sighing, he walked back to where the two stragglers were. “Come on, Gray. We gotta make sure Wendy and Levy are all right.”

“I know. Just…give me a moment.”

Shit. Gray was crying, wasn’t he? Gray was definitely crying.

He looked at Lucy, panicked. Her eyes had something bittersweet but solemn in them, and he held her gaze for a moment. Natsu was no good with tears, but Lucy seemed fine just standing there. So, his lip pushed out in a pout, Natsu stood there too.

 

By the time Gray had recovered from his personal moment, the others returned with Wendy and Levy, and Jellal was gone.

“We need to go to Phantom Lord after all,” Erza said.

Gray stood up, dusting off his pants. “What for?” he asked as if he hadn’t just been crying his eyes out.

“In the hideout, we found correspondences between Zero and Phantom’s guildmaster, Jose Porla. They mentioned a Lord, and it seems to be the same one you and Lucy overheard those government officials mention,” Wendy said.

Erza nodded. “Makarov also mentioned hearing of a Lord, but never the name, or what organization is responsible for all this. We’re Fairy Tail’s investigative team for this right now, and with the increase in demon activity the past couple months, there should be more clues left behind. So if we follow this lead, we might be able to get the information that’s been eluding Makarov and his contacts for decades.”

“It’s their fault for keeping this suspicious stuff all a secret,” Natsu said, crossing his arms.

“It’s too late to nitpick about the guildmasters’ past decisions,” Erza said. “Wendy and Levy are right; we need to follow this lead to Phantom Lord. Gajeel and Juvia might know something, or know the way to find out what we want.”

“If dark guilds are involved in this, they’ll definitely know,” Gray said. “That’s why they’re undercover in the first place.”

“Precisely,” said Erza.

Natsu growled. Juvia he didn’t mind, but he and Gajeel were far from friendly. Gajeel was one of those people he couldn’t forgive. Back when he and Juvia were enemies, Juvia fought like any other mage, but Gajeel went above and beyond to be cruel to Natsu’s allies. And anyone that messed with Fairy Tail to that extent could never be redeemed, in Natsu’s eyes. Or, they could, but Gajeel was still the same insufferable jerk as always, and seemed to make no efforts to change that. It was just his personality, apparently. And Natsu hated it.

“No starting fights,” Erza warned, eyes on Natsu. She seemed to know what was bothering him.

So did Gray. “Just remember that Gajeel’s our ally.”

Natsu scowled. “Yeah, yeah. I still hate him.”

“Gajeel is one of the undercover contacts?” Lucy said.

“Yeah,” Natsu said. “Him and Juvia. Juvia’s all right, but Gajeel’s an asshole.”

“He’s not actually that bad,” Levy said to Lucy.

“Yeah he is,” Natsu said. “He’s a jerk. He hurt our friends.”

Levy sighed. “Yes, and that’s why he and Juvia went undercover, to make up for their mistakes. He’s an ally now. Gods, Natsu, is there a guy in Fairy Tail you don’t make an enemy with? Gray, Gajeel…”

“Gray and Gajeel are separate issues,” Natsu said. “Gray and I are actually f…fr… Well, anyway, at least Gray hasn’t beaten anyone at Fairy Tail half to death.”

“Technically that’s not true,” Gray said. “When I fought Juvia the first time, I totally creamed her.”

“But she wasn’t in Fairy Tail yet.”

“Neither was Gajeel,” Erza pointed out. “Natsu, I know you still don’t trust him, but the rest of us have moved on.”

Natsu scowled. He didn’t like it when they brought up his tendency to dwell on things.

“Well, whatever,” Natsu grumbled. “We need him and Juvia so it can’t be helped.”

“I was the one he beat half to death, as you said,” Levy said. “If I can forgive him, you can, too.”

Natsu stared at Levy. He wondered if he should mention that he knew she and Gajeel had a _thing_. He’d be more inclined to put faith in her words if he didn’t know that she and Gajeel were like two lovesick puppies for each other. Forgiveness he could understand, but something like love with the person who did that to you? It was too weird.

Besides, even without his dark history, Gajeel was still an asshole.

“Let’s just hurry up,” Charle said. “It may be close, but Phantom Lord is still two days’ distance from here.”

“Right,” Natsu said. He turned to Gray. “Ready?”

Gray made a face. “Why wouldn’t I be? Let’s go.”

Natsu resisted the urge to make a snappy comeback about Gray’s emotional display only minutes ago. He could usually get away with one jab before Erza interfered, but Lucy might not be so forgiving, considering the steady warning look she was giving him.

So he kept his mouth shut and they left the site of Deliora’s disintegration behind, the memory of Gray’s tears forgotten along with it. While they traveled, Lucy took the chance to slowly introduce them to all of her other celestial spirits so that there wouldn’t be any more surprises.

The celestial spirit that confused Natsu the most was Virgo. He knew people had some weird kinks, and he had to respect that, but Virgo took it to a whole new level. She was literally _begging_ to be tortured and punished as Lucy exasperatedly closed the gate.

“That’s the last of the Zodiac spirits I can show you,” Lucy said. “The last one is Aquarius, whom you don’t need to meet. She hates humans.”

Natsu leaned forward. “Really? Why?”

Lucy grimaced. “Well, more like she just hates me. She’s my most powerful spirit, and the first one I summoned, but even so, we don’t get along. And I need a body of water to summon her. The bigger the better. I mean, I _could_ summon her in a small pool, but I’m pretty sure she’d murder me.”

“She sounds scary.”

“She is scary.”

“So, umm, wait. Loke, Virgo, Aries…” Natsu counted the spirits on his fingers. “That’s only eleven.”

Lucy nodded. “Capricorn is missing.”

“You mean you don’t have Capricorn’s key?” Erza asked.

“He hasn’t been seen in the Spirit World for years. That’s why I was surprised when you recognized Leo, I mean, Loke. I know Capricorn is wandering Earthland somewhere, but I didn’t expect Loke to be doing the same in his free time.”

“He mostly just hits on girls,” Gray said.

“Of course he does,” Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, he’s an insatiable flirt.”

“So he hits on you, too?” Gray guessed.”

“All the time,” Lucy said. “And any girl in the vicinity of where I open his gate. That’s why I only used his key when I thought we were about to face Deliora; he’s one of my strongest spirits, but I didn’t want him to make a bad impression on Erza when I’d only just met all of you.”

“Don’t worry, we already have bad impressions of him,” Gray said jokingly.

“It does explain a lot,” Wendy said. “He always smelled a little different from normal humans.”

“And he’s weak as fuck,” Natsu said. “Um, pardon my language.”

“Excused,” Lucy said. “And I’m surprised to hear that you guys see him as being weak. As my spirit, he’s a strong fighter. He takes a lot of magical energy to summon, almost as much as Aquarius.”

“Perhaps using his own power to be in the human world weakens his abilities,” Erza said.

“Or he just didn’t want to get found out,” Levy said.

“Yeah,” Gray agreed, “not being human would probably hurt his prospects with the ladies.”

“Not to mention it’d put him in danger because of his relation to me,” Lucy said, sighing. “Honestly, the lengths that man will go to.”

Erza clapped her hands together. “Well, that’s enough talk for tonight. Tomorrow we arrive at Phantom Lord, and we should all be well-rested just in case. Goodnight, everyone.”

“Goodnight,” they all chorused, retreating to their tents. Well, all except for Natsu and Lucy, as usual. But even Lucy stood up, brushing the dirt from the rear of her skirt.

“I really need to get a less conspicuous outfit for when we return to civilization,” she said. “I was recognized so quickly in Fairy Tail. I’m thinking my outfit might be part of it; I’m always wearing clothes from the Celestial Spirit World, so it stands out.”

“That might be part of it,” Natsu agreed, though he still thought it was more about the way she carried herself and the aura around her. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was just something about her that screamed, _I am an important figure_. But no matter how many times he tried to tell her it was her elite upbringing that made her stand out so much, she refused to believe it could make that much of a difference.

Maybe it really _was_ the unique outfits.

Lucy turned to Natsu and flashed him a smile. “I’m going to bed early tonight. Goodnight, Natsu.”

He nodded. “Goodnight.”

There was a flash of light, and Plue was at her side. “Come on, Plue,” she said, flicking her wrist and walking away with him at her heels. Natsu watched her crawl into the tent and close the flaps behind her.

Natsu had the sudden urge to reach out, to run after her and make sure she was okay. He knew her death had only been an illusion, but he still couldn’t shake the image from his mind. He could only hope this anxiety would leave him soon.

Sighing heavily, he turned back to the fire. He should go to sleep soon, too, but he’d stare into the flames just a little while longer. It was going to be cold and rainy tomorrow for sure, so he had to bask in the fire’s heat while he could.

 

As they approached Phantom Lord, they sent Charle out to tell Gajeel and Juvia to meet them. Happy initially wanted to go, but the others all thought he was too loud and easily distracted, so Charle smugly offered herself instead.

“Happy, you’re blue,” Gray said. “Charle’s white, so she can pass for a normal cat more easily than you can.”

“I can act like a normal cat,” Happy whined.

“Can you?” Natsu said, genuinely curious. He’d never actually seen Happy try to act cat-like. Sure, exceeds had many natural feline traits, like their body language and their purring, but Natsu didn’t remember a time when Happy actually mewed like a cat did. Natsu couldn’t imagine it.

Happy didn’t get a chance to prove himself, because Charle returned quickly with news that Gajeel and Juvia were on their way.

“That’s fast,” Erza said.

“Gajeel said they had no assignments today, so they can disguise their visit to us as going out shopping.”

“Gajeel shopping?” Levy said, giggling.

“No, Juvia shopping,” Charle said. “Apparently Gajeel never interacts with the others at Phantom Lord on his days off, so he’ll just pretend to be napping at home all day.”

Natsu snorted. “Typical.”

“Do they know where we are?” Erza said.

“Gajeel said to meet them at the tallest tree in the forest,” Charle said.

A short while later, thanks to the exceeds’ guidance from the air they found themselves at a towering spruce tree. The forest was thick in these parts, trees as dense as underbrush; as long as nobody else passed by this particular tree, they wouldn’t be seen easily.

They sat and waited. And waited. It was a few hours later that the sky clouded over and began to show signs of rain.

Lucy flinched in surprise as a raindrop fell on her cheek. “Oh?” She put a hand to her face. “It’s starting to rain.”

Natsu held out his hand and felt the beginnings of a low drizzle. He reached into his bag and pulled out a large rain cloak, which he wrapped around his shoulders.

“Come on, Happy,” he said, letting Happy under the shelter of the cloak. He looked around and saw that Lucy was the only one not getting out a rain garment. She had almost no belongings, so it didn’t really surprise Natsu, but didn’t the Celestial Spirit World have raincoats?

Instead of a coat, Lucy pulled out her key ring. “I should call Horogolium,” she muttered, sorting through the keys.

“What kind of spirit is that?” Natsu said.

“He’s a grandfather clock. I can sit inside him to stay dry until the meeting.”

“Don’t bother,” Erza said. “Gajeel and Juvia are almost here.”

“How do you know?” Lucy said.

“The rain,” Gray said. “Juvia uses it as a signal to meet. Also, the fog it creates can be used for cover.”

Natsu opened his rain cloak and pulled Lucy inside. “Here, just share with me. It’ll stop when she gets here,” he said.

Lucy allowed herself to be wrapped in Natsu’s cloak with surprisingly little protest. Natsu knew better than to question her compliance, but he was a little unnerved by how easily she let him keep his arm around her. Yes, it was because he was holding the cloak that kept them both dry, but her body leaned into his with a natural ease that Natsu wasn’t expecting.

With her in his arms, Natsu noticed that despite her larger-than-life presence and sleek muscles, Lucy was surprisingly small and soft. He’d sort of assumed they were the same height, but now that she was up against him, he realized that she was actually shorter, and her shoulders thin.

She tilted her head to look at him. “You know, you’re surprisingly skinny,” she said.

Natsu was speechless for a moment before he began laughing. “I was thinking the same thing about you,” he said.

“Well, it’s all muscle,” Lucy said, a slow smile spreading.

“Quit flirting,” Gray said. “They’re here.”

“We are not,” Natsu argued, but two figures making their way through the misty forest distracted him.

The new arrivals came with silent footsteps; any sounds they may have made were drowned out by the gentle patter of the rain. Gajeel’s silhouette was large and broad, coat slung over his shoulders but arms never through the sleeves. Juvia’s hair was still in that strange hairstyle she’d adopted for the undercover position, stuck flat to her head until it formed a dramatic loop at her shoulders. She held a large pink umbrella over both her and Gajeel.

Juvia made steady eye contact with Gray, but for some reason didn’t attempt to make physical contact. Natsu’d have to figure out what was happening there later; it was unusual for Juvia not to be all over Gray the second she saw him.

“Gajeel!” Levy exclaimed, smile wide.

“Quiet, Shrimp,” Gajeel grumbled, but he ruffled her hair under her hood.

Now that Gajeel and Juvia had arrived, the rain slowly stopped, leaving only a drifting fog. To Natsu’s mild disappointment, Lucy stepped out from the protection of his rain cloak.

“I am the Celestial Spirit,” she introduced, reaching forward to shake their hands. “You may call me Lucy.”

Gajeel sent inquiring looks around at the others, but took Lucy’s hand anyway. “Gajeel Redfox,” he said. “This is Juvia Lockser.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Juvia said, exchanging curtseys with Lucy.

“Lucy is assisting us on this mission,” Erza explained. “Or, rather, we’re helping her. Natsu brought her to us, but she was the one to receive the information for this job from Makarov.”

“It is a case of mutual interest,” Lucy said, smiling gently. To Natsu’s surprise, she returned to the shelter of his cloak. It wasn’t raining anymore, but perhaps the thick lingering fog was enough to make her seek a dry shelter. Happy was still huddled at Natsu’s feet, too.

“Is it okay for you to be taking off from all your knight shit?” Gajeel said to Erza.

Erza scoffed. “They wouldn’t dare fire me. This is more important than anything I get assigned by the state, anyway.”

He shrugged. “Fair enough. So, Charle told me you needed information.”

“We do,” Erza said.

“Good,” Gajeel said with a nod, “because we’ve got a hell of a lot of information to tell you about this fucking Lord, and you’re gonna wanna hear it.”


	10. Chapter 10

Mist colored the forest shades of gray and obscured even Natsu’s sharp vision. But he knew he and the other Fairy Tail members were alone; all he could smell in their vicinity was rotting leaves and wet dirt. Phantom Lord was out of his range, but he was sure that if anyone came into the forest, he and the other dragon slayers would notice.

That said, he almost wished someone would come into the area just so he could beat them up. He’d get his own ass beat by Erza if he tried to fight Gajeel while he was telling them all the info he’d gathered while at Phantom Lord, but Natsu was dying to release his pent-up energy _somehow_.

“So,” Natsu said, crossing his arms, “you mean to tell me that you don’t know who their Lord is.”

Gajeel frowned. “Yeah, but—”

“Isn’t that the most important piece of information? How could you—”

“Of course I don’t know any names! Just be thankful I got the information I did, got it? Fuckin’…”

“All right, stop fighting,” Erza said. “Honestly, Natsu, let Gajeel finish.”

“Thank you,” Gajeel said. “As I was saying, there’s someone in the government that’s passin’ on their Lord’s orders or some shit. There’s this whole convoluted chain of command so it’ll be tough to figure out exactly who the Lord’s liaison is in the capital. We’ll have to do some diggin’ ourselves. Or maybe the geezer knows something and isn’t telling us.”

“He didn’t mention anything,” Lucy said, “but there’s a chance he might have some leads. We should ask when we get back.”

“So a dark guild called Tartarus is trying to revive a demon,” Erza summarized.

“A stronger one than any of the others that’ve been released so far,” Gajeel said. “Unfortunately, that’s all I know. All that’s useful, anyway. I could go on forever about the romantic crap Jose spouts about him being a savior and shit.”

“You’ve already done that plenty,” Gray said wryly.

“Well now we have a name for them,” Levy said. “And some clues about their intentions.”

“Makarov was right,” Wendy said. “Although it wasn’t the government itself, just some corrupt officials that are part of Tartarus.”

“I’ll do a little more digging when we get back to the guild,” Gajeel said. “Meet us here again tomorrow morning. Come on, Juvia. It’s time to put our undercover positions to good use.”

Juvia bowed formally, and the two disappeared back into the mist. Just like that, the almost surreal meeting was over.

 

As they walked back to camp, Erza questioned Lucy about her impressions of her new acquaintances.

“So? What did you think of Gajeel and Juvia?”

“Juvia seems nice,” Lucy said. “She was quiet, though. Gajeel is…blunt.”

Natsu laughed. “And you probably though _I_ cursed a lot.”

“A little,” Lucy admitted. “But he was really crude. I was surprised.”

“I think he talks like that so nobody gets the wrong idea that he’s a decent person or anything,” Natsu said.

 _“Natsu._ ”

“Yeah, yeah, keep defending your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Levy snapped.

“He’s not?”

“Of course not!”

“But you two have already kissed, haven’t you?”

“Wait, really?” Lucy said.

“Natsu! You can’t just say that out loud!”

Gray spoke up. “Hate to break it to ya, Lev, but everyone kinda already knows about that.”

“What? How? Natsu, I thought you said you wouldn’t gossip!”

“I didn’t,” Natsu said defensively.

“It was Droy,” Wendy said. “He came running into the guild in a panic saying he saw you two…uh…”

“Sucking face,” Gray supplied.

Wendy flushed. “Yeah. That. Jet made everyone promise not to tell you we knew. I thought you’d have found out anyway, knowing Fairy Tail.”

Levy covered her face with her hands. “This is mortifying.”

“There, there,” Erza said, slinging an arm around Levy’s shoulders. “Gajeel is an attractive man, and a tough nut to crack; everyone at Fairy Tail can only admire you for managing to wrap him around your finger.”

Lucy was still stuck on the fact that the two of them had a thing. “Levy and Gajeel. Huh. Now that I’m thinking about it, I can kind of see it,” she said.

Levy whined, “No, Lu, not you too.”

Natsu picked up on the nickname. “Lu?”

“Yeah. Lu. Lucy.”

“If anyone besides the girls tries to call me that, I’ll make you regret it,” Lucy said, hand moving oh-so-subtly to her weapons and her eyes on Natsu and Gray.

“Aww, come on, Lu,” Natsu joked. But then he met her glare and gulped. “…cy.”

She smiled. “Thought so.”

“Only I’m calling her that anyway,” Levy said. “But I’ll convert Erza and Wendy someday.”

“Lucy is a beautiful name,” Erza said. “It would be a shame to shorten it.”

“I really don’t mind,” Lucy said. “But thanks.”

Levy pouted. “Erza’s making me look like a bad person for giving you a nickname now.”

“I was actually glad,” Lucy said, smiling. “No one’s ever given me a nickname before.”

“Why can’t I give you a nickname?” Natsu said.

“Because I said so.”

“But why?”

“Because Levy’s special.”

“And I’m not?”

Lucy hesitated a moment. “Not in that way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just give it up, Hothead,” Gray said. “Lucy likes Levy more than you, that’s all. You may have brought her here, but she can make friends with whomever she wants.”

“That’s right,” Levy said. “You can’t have her all to yourself.”

“I wanna be Lucy’s friend too,” he whined. He knew that he and Lucy were friends, but why wasn’t he special enough to use a nickname? He didn’t really care about the nickname itself, but the principle of the matter frustrated him.

“You already have her time at night,” Erza pointed out.

Gray was startled. “Woah, wait a second, what do they do at night?”

“They spend forever talking,” Wendy said. “You never noticed?”

“No. I actually sleep at night. Gods, you people need to get some proper rest for once, all of you.”

“I get as much rest as I need,” Natsu said. “Talking to Lucy is fun.”

Gray gave Natsu a long look, and Natsu stared back. He wasn’t sure if this was a challenge, or what the pensive expression on Gray’s face meant, but he wasn’t about to back down from a staring contest.

Gray broke eye contact first. “Whatever,” he said. “Just don’t mess it up.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Natsu said, cleaning his ear with his pinky finger. Whatever Gray was telling him not to mess up, he didn’t feel like dealing with it right now. He had to hold onto his patience for another day before Gajeel and Juvia came back with more information, and listening to Gray’s vague criticisms would only make him itch for a fight.

 

The next day when they returned to the tree, they must’ve gotten there early or something because Juvia and Gajeel were nowhere to be found. They were told to meet in the morning, but noon passed and still no sign from either mage.

Erza paced back and forth in full armor with arms crossed, debating out loud between waiting a little longer and going to Phantom Lord directly to see if something happened.

“They’re probably fine,” Levy said, standing a safe distance away from Erza’s radiating aura of stress. “It’s probably just taking longer than they thought. You know how Gajeel tends to overestimate himself.”

Lucy chewed on her thumbnail. “That may be true, but it’s been hours,” she said.

“But what if we go there and mess everything up?” Wendy said.

“We’ll wait,” Erza ordered, coming to a stop. “Just…just a little longer. If they’re not here within the hour, we should operate under the assumption that something went wrong.”

“I could go check on them,” Charle said.

“No,” Erza said, “let’s trust them for now. Gajeel was going to look into some sensitive topics, so if something did go wrong, the guild will be on high alert. We shouldn’t send anyone out there alone.”

But they didn’t have to worry much longer, because Natsu picked up their comrades’ scents mixing with the forest air. Hours late, they’d finally arrived.

“Lord Gray!” Juvia came barreling in, nearly tackling Gray to the ground. “Juvia missed you so much!”

“Woah, she’s back to normal,” Natsu noted. He’d been worried seeing how quiet Juvia was yesterday, but it was good to see her acting like herself.

“Seems so,” Gray said with a grimace. “Did something happen?”

“Juvia had to hold herself back soooo much that Juvia was afraid if she broke her undercover persona she wouldn’t be able to go back to acting. But Juvia and Gajeel cut ties with Phantom Lord, so now Juvia can be herself again! Was Gray worried?”

“You cut ties?” Erza said. “Why did you do that?”

Juvia turned to smile at Erza, her arms still locked firmly around Gray’s neck. “Gajeel started a fight and exposed his cover, so Juvia helped him take out the rest of Phantom Lord.”

“Don’t leave the most important part out, Juvia.”

“Gajeel!” Levy exclaimed.

“What’s this about taking out Phantom Lord?” Erza said.

Gajeel let out a long sigh and scratched his head. “Kind of a long story,” he said. He reached the group and rested an arm on Levy’s head. Levy puffed her cheeks in annoyance but he ignored her, continuing. “Long story short, I asked too many questions and got exposed. But not before I got my answer.”

“Answer to what?” Gray said.

“Grimoire Heart is connected to Tartarus.”

“Grimoire Heart? Aren’t they a dark guild?” Erza said.

Gajeel nodded. “I asked when the next time someone from Tartarus was gonna contact us, and Jose said Grimoire Heart was on their way. They were supposed to come and collaborate with our Element Four on some assignment passed down by their boss. I couldn’t let that happen of course, so I beat him up and came here to get you guys. We’ve got an hour.”

“An hour?” Lucy exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“Calm your tits, Bunny Girl. I just did,” Gajeel said.

“Bunny Girl?”

“You’re wrinkling your nose. Like a rabbit,” Gajeel said.

Lucy opened and closed her mouth, fury and indignance on her face.

Happy giggled. “Now you look like a goldfish,” he pointed out.

“Shut up, cat.”

“No need to get your panties in a twist,” Gajeel said. “I give everyone nicknames. Ain’t that right, Shrimp?”

Levy pouted. “You know, I really wish you’d use my name once in a while,” she said.

“Stop bickering and get moving,” Erza said, lifting a large bag over her shoulder. “They’ll be arriving at the Phantom Lord guild, correct?”

“Yeah. There’s a narrow path leading up to the entrance where we can ambush ‘em. Though they can probably sense us, but to hell with it, worth a shot, right?”

“Juvia will show Lord Gray where Gajeel is talking about,” Juvia said.

“Show the rest of us, too,” Erza said.

Juvia frowned. “Of course! Juvia favors Lord Gray, but everyone here is also her ally. Except the Celestial Spirit.” Lucy started at the sound of her name. Juvia made eye contact with Lucy, staring at her suspiciously.

“Eyy, Lucy’s one of us,” Natsu said, slinging an arm around Lucy’s shoulders.

“Juvia thought the Celestial Spirit was only allying with illegal mages like Fairy Tail to take out demons at Oración Seis,” Juvia said. “Juvia does not want anyone to interfere with the happiness of her friends at Fairy Tail. If the Celestial Spirit gets Juvia’s friends arrested, Juvia will not forgive her.”

“I’d never do that,” Lucy insisted. “I’m an illegal mage, too. Besides, Natsu’s right; I may not be a member of Fairy Tail, but for now, I am a member of this team and I intend to solve this Tartarus issue along with you.”

Natsu was somewhat saddened by the thought that after this, Lucy would go back to being a lone vigilante again. If it weren’t for Lucy, Makarov may have never sent this particular team out to investigate Oración Seis, and Natsu would still be wandering around looking for Igneel. Whether she knew it or not, right now she was the glue that held this team together.

“Enough arguing, I said,” Erza said. “Juvia, Lucy is trustworthy; she singlehandedly took out a member of Oración Seis and worked as a team with Natsu to take out another. And you know how difficult Natsu can be when it comes to teamwork.”

Part of Natsu wanted to be offended, but he couldn’t really argue with the fact that his teamwork skills were awful.

Juvia nodded. “Juvia apologizes to Lucy. Juvia was just being cautious, but Juvia sees that she was wrong.”

“No, don’t worry about it. It’s a natural reaction to have,” Lucy said.

“Uhh, guys?” Wendy said. “Shouldn’t we get going? Gajeel said we had an hour and we’ve already spent five minutes just talking…”

Gajeel put a hand on Wendy’s head. “The guild ain’t that far. We’ve got time,” he said. “But you’re right. Let’s go.”

Gajeel and Juvia brought them all the entrance gate of Phantom Lord’s guild building. The guild was nestled with its back to the forest at the end of a narrow canyon path to its entrance, and on the other side of the path was a sprawling town in the shadow of a sheer cliff. But the path was long, and the town distant, so silence hung thick in the air as the Fairy Tail team settled in to wait.

Either Gajeel’s timing was extremely accurate, or Grimoire Heart’s was, because they showed up exactly when Gajeel predicted. At first they were just specks in the distance entering the entrance to the canyon.

“That’s them,” Gajeel muttered, just loud enough for Natsu and Wendy to hear and relay the information to those near them. “Nobody else’d be stupid enough to approach the guild without magistrate approval, and Jose controls the magistrate.”

Natsu bounced on his toes as he repeated Gajeel’s instructions to Happy, Lucy, and Levy: wait until Grimoire Heart makes the first move, then go to the previously specified locations for battle.

Grimoire Heart’s members all used different types of forbidden magic, and that was all Gajeel knew. In discussion of what strategies to use once the fight was underway, they collectively decided was best to split up and fight their enemies individually so the lost magics couldn’t be used together. Overcoming the power of lost magic would be hard enough without the enemies combining their abilities for team attacks.

Grimoire Heart approached slowly. Their pace didn’t slow even as they got closer and closer. At this point, they had to know that Fairy Tail was waiting for them, but they continued on like nothing was wrong. It was a game of chicken: the first to acknowledge the other side loses.

Gajeel lost.

Across the canyon from Natsu, Gajeel jumped to his feet and pounded his chest with an iron fist. “Come at me, Grim bastards!”

For a moment, Juvia’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ beside him, but then she was in action too, and so was Grimoire Heart, and suddenly the entire end of the canyon was in magic chaos.

Well, looks like the divide-and-conquer plan was out the window, with everyone battling all in the same small space. But Grimoire Heart was still down on the canyon path while the rest of Fairy Tail used their high ground advantage, and Natsu was having none of this long-distance fighting shit. Copying the move he saw Lucy pull the first day she was at Fairy Tail, he jumped down from the canyon wall, doing a little flip and landing neatly on his feat.

In front of him now were seven mages, most of them human but at least one of whom was clearly not. He could feel the magic radiation off of them in waves; they were strong.

Natsu grinned. “Hell yeah, now I can really let loose. Fire Dragon’s Roar!”


	11. Chapter 11

Grimoire Heart dispersed, fleeing the inferno spewing from Natsu’s mouth. Many left his field of vision and never returned, but he could sense their clashes with his comrades around them. The only one his flames hadn’t scattered was this huge round guy with chalk-white skin. He towered over Natsu as if he was trying to be intimidating. It wasn’t working.

“You look weak,” Natsu noted, shifting his weight onto one foot and crossing his arms.

“I am strong to be one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory,” the big guy said. “I am Kain. Who are you?”

Natsu scoffed. “You don’t even know who you’re dealing with here? Like I’m gonna tell you.”

“I know who _she_ is,” he said, pointing behind Natsu.

Natsu looked over his shoulder to see Lucy standing behind him in a fighting stance, whip pulled taught. She caught his eye and grinned.

“This one’s mine,” she said.

“No way,” Natsu said. “I was here first.”

“So? There’s some fire guy here too; you should go fight him since your magic matches.”

“It can’t match. Dragon slayer magic isn’t a lost magic,” Natsu said.

“It should be, given how rare it is these days. But his is a weird kind of fire magic too, see?” Lucy pointed to where one of the Seven Kin was on the top of the ridge, a loudly laughing guy with wild blonde hair. He was throwing black fire into the air as Wendy tried to use the wind to control its direction.

Natsu looked back at Lucy. “I should help her out with that.”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m saying to leave this guy to me.”

 “Stop ignoring me,” Kain shouted, barreling toward them suddenly, huge hands pushing forward in a direct attack. Natsu and Lucy each dodged to a different side. Natsu followed up with a burst of flames that Kain and Lucy both dodged, sending it Gajeel’s direction. Gajeel was already avoiding some underling with a sword, so he got hit full-blast by Natsu’s fire.

“Natsu, you little shit! Watch it!”

“You get out of the way of my flames first,” Natsu shot back. “Not my fault you came too close.”

“Fuckin’ asshole.”

“Now you’re just— Hey, Lucy, what’s it called when you think someone else is being a jerk but really you’re the one at fault? Like, you’re imagining all your traits on them.”

“Projecting?”

“Yeah, thanks. Gajeel, now you’re just projecting.”

“I don’t even remember what I said, but I’ll bet you’re wrong,” Gajeel said. “Just stop bein’ a fucking idiot and keep your fire in your own fight, got it?”

“Take your fight somewhere else and it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Gajeel muttered something under his breath that Natsu missed, but it was probably just more cursing. Gajeel’s battle actually did seem to be drifting farther away from where Natsu and Lucy were. Whether it was because of Natsu’s comment or not didn’t really matter; so long as Gajeel wasn’t going to complain anymore, Natsu was satisfied.

“You really do need to stop picking fights with your guildmates,” Lucy said.

“Natsu can’t help it,” Happy said. “He’s even challenged Erza to a fight before.”

“Did he win?”

“I almost did,” Natsu mumbled.

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Well, if you ever challenge me, I won’t go easy on you.”

Natsu grinned. “Even better,” he said. Not that he ever planned on asking the Celestial Spirit to fight him (he wasn’t _that_ stupid), but he wasn’t about to back down from her taunts.

“Stop ignoring me!” shouted Kain again, interrupting their conversation. Oh, right. Natsu forgot they were in the middle of fighting somebody.

“Won’t you just collapse already?” Lucy sighed, readying her whip again.

“Never,” Kain said. “I haven’t even shown you my magic yet.” He reached into his shorts and pulled out a familiar object that made the blood drain from Natsu’s face.

“A doll?” Lucy said.

“It’s a cursey doll,” Happy said.

Lucy looked at Happy in surprise. “You recognize it?”

“Uh. Yeah. I’ve heard of it before.”

Natsu couldn’t take his eyes off of the straw-colored cloth doll held between Kain’s huge fingers. It looked so small and limp, but Natsu knew better than to underestimate its power.

“Lucy,” he said, “whatever you do, don’t let him get even a strand of your hair.”

“My hair?”

“He can use that doll to control you,” Natsu said. He wiped the cold sweat from his face. Now was not the time to be like this. Compartmentalize, suppress.

“Then all we have to do is defeat him before he can swipe hair from us.”

“Easier said than done,” Natsu muttered to himself, dodging Kain’s large hand again. “This guy’s got impressive range for his body type.” The tall-and-round guys were usually not very agile which made for easy pickings, but this guy knew how to use his size to his advantage.

Natsu let out another Fire Dragon’s Roar at Kain. Lucy dodged by slipping between Kain’s legs, wrapping her whip around one ankle as she tripped him up. Kain did trip, but when he landed, he was giggling.

“Uhh, Natsu?” Lucy said, extracting her whip to ready it for another attack.

Natsu jumped toward Kain, going in for a couple punches as he listened. “Yeah?”

“I know you literally _just_ said not to let him get my hair, but I felt a tug on my ponytail just now,” she said. “He might have—”

Natsu didn’t remember what happened next. One second he was punching Kain while Lucy was saying the word “ponytail.” The next he was hunched over the unconscious Kain, breathing heavily with one ripped half of the cursey doll in each fist.

He blinked. Looked up.

What had just happened? Apparently he beat up Kain, but he didn’t remember doing so. The last however-long was all a huge blank.

Really though, what just happened?

Lucy’s eyes met his. They locked gazes for a moment.

Finally, Lucy spoke. “That was…scary,” she said.

“What happened?” Natsu said. He realized his voice was raspy.

“You…did you just black out?” Lucy said, brows furrowed.

“Uhh. I think so.” Natsu looked at the torn doll in his hands. At least it wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone from now on. How Kain had gotten his hands on it, Natsu didn’t know, but it was over now.

And there was no hair stuck on the doll’s head. Lucy had been safe this whole time. A wave of relief swept over Natsu.

“You kind of went berserk,” Lucy said, walking over to slowly extract the doll from Natsu’s hands.

“Did anyone else see?” he asked.

Lucy looked around. “I think everyone’s busy with their own fights.”

“Right.”

“You okay?”

Natsu took a moment to collect himself. Whatever had just happened, he’d used an awful lot of magic power. “Yeah, I’m good,” he said. “Sorry, you said to leave him to you.”

“That’s fine. You did it yourself anyway. That’s one less member to worry about. Didn’t Gajeel say there were seven?”

“The Seven Kin of Purgatory,” Natsu said. “But those are just the members; there’s gotta be a leader around here somewhere, too. And other guildmembers. Where’d they all go? Two are fighting Gajeel, but there was a lot more earlier.”

“Everyone scattered pretty quickly,” Lucy said. “Sniff them out for me and I’ll take care of them. You can go get that other fire guy.”

“I think his name is Zancrow,” Happy said from Natsu’s feet.

“How do you know?” Natsu said.

“I flew up there to check on Carla while you were beating up Kain.”

“So that’s where you went,” Lucy said, rolling her eyes. “You always disappear during fights.”

“Oh, and the rest of the Grimoire Heart underlings are behind that big rock,” Happy said, pointing down the canyon. “They all ran away after seeing you, but I could see them while I was flying. There’s a bunch of mages. One of them’s a goat.”

That piqued Lucy’s interest. “A goat? Are you su—”

“Help,” came a shout from Levy. Train of thought interrupted, both Natsu and Lucy instinctively turned to the sound and ran toward where Levy and Gajeel were fighting off a group of mages, all of whom seemed to be requip mages judging by their swords. Or were they mages at all? None of them were requipping.

Natsu blasted several of them away from Levy while Lucy pulled out her spirits to back up Gajeel.

“Thanks,” Levy said. “I can only write so many spells at once before it starts becoming too much. Sorry if I distracted you, but Gajeel’s too proud to ask for help when he needs it.”

“I thought you were only fighting two of them,” Natsu said, punching a few more swordsmen.

“So did I,” Gajeel said. “Then a whole bunch more came outta nowhere. The first two are requip, but the new ones seem to be normal people. The skills they have ain’t normal, though. Or their swords.” Natsu noticed that Gajeel was nursing a pretty bad wound in his iron-encased upper arm; apparently these weapons could pierce solid steel.

“When he’s saying they came out of nowhere, he means it literally,” Levy said. As she spoke, she conjured up the word “fire” for Natsu to eat, which he gratefully scarfed down to replenish his magic energy. “They appeared as if summoned. It must be the lost magic of one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, but the summoner isn’t among those we’re fighting and I can’t see anyone from here.”

“The guys behind the rock,” Happy realized.

“Right. I’ll go,” Lucy said, leaving the fight to Natsu to run back to the large boulder behind which some Grimoire Heart people were apparently hiding.

“Hey, don’t go alone,” Natsu called, but he needn’t have worried because Loke was already running after her. Still, he couldn’t help the urge to run after. “You good now?” he said, sparing a glance at Gajeel, who grunted.

“Who d’you think I am?” Gajeel said.

“Don’t make Levy overwork herself to protect you again, all right? I don’t wanna have to come running to save your sorry ass a second time.”

“Just go after her already.”

“She can take care of herself,” Natsu said, even as he took Gajeel’s advice and followed Lucy and Loke. She was his teammate now. Teammates worked together.

Just as Happy said, there was a small cluster of mages behind the rock. They were all surprised to be spotted, except for one, the goat guy Happy mentioned. He was tall and wore a suit. It looked stuffy.

“What are you doing here?” Loke demanded.

“Lucy and I are a team,” Natsu said, feeling offended. Yeah he and Loke had never been besties, but they were guildmates. That accusing tone was completely unnecessary.

Loke rolled his eyes. “Not you, moron. _Him_.” He pointed to the goat guy.

“Is that the summoner?”

“Stay away from Master Caprico!” one of the Grimoire Heart lackeys shouted, pointing a spear. They rushed Lucy and Natsu, only to be knocked aside easily. Why was everyone in Grimoire Heart so weak? Not counting the Seven Kin, of course; they were supposedly pretty strong. Kain hadn’t been, but then again Natsu had blacked out during that fight so he couldn’t be certain.

“Step aside,” Caprico said. The lackeys all immediately froze and stepped to the side in perfect unison. Caprico punched them out of the way. “Worthless humans,” he scoffed.

That got Natsu’s blood boiling. “Hey, aren’t they your comrades?”

“And who are you? Just another weak human,” Caprico said. He raised a fist, and Natsu quickly blocked the hit.

Well, he _did_ block it, but the sheer force behind Caprico’s strike sent Natsu hurtling backwards into the opposite canyon wall. Dust and stone fell around him, the rock wall crumbling.

Feeling a trickle of wetness, Natsu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His lip was bleeding. Great. Just one hit, and his lip was bleeding. This guy’s physical strength was something else.

Lucy and Loke came running over to help him up.

“Go,” Lucy said. “This one’s mine. I mean it this time.”

“He’s strong,” Natsu said. “Just one punch and I got landed all the way over here. You’ll need backup.”

Lucy shook her head. “That’s Capricorn.”

“What?”

“He called himself Caprico, but that’s Capricorn. That’s the last of the 12 zodiac spirits.”

Natsu frowned. “Who’s summoning him?”

“Not all spirits need summoning to appear in the human world,” Loke reminded them.

“Right,” Lucy said, spreading her feet into a fighting stance. “Well, it’s time to bring him back from the dark side. Ready, Loke?”

“Ready.”

“Natsu, we’ll take care of this one. You go after that Zancrow guy. Wendy might be in trouble.”

Natsu nodded. If that was a celestial spirit, this was Lucy’s fight for sure. No more interfering. “Just yell and I’ll come running.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Loke said.

“You’d better hope it won’t be.”

“Natsu, just _go_.”

Not needing another urging, Natsu ran off in the direction of Zancrow and Wendy. He hoped his help wouldn’t be necessary in her fight, too, but these mages all used lost magic. Wendy was strong against average mages, but Natsu wasn’t sure she was aggressive enough to take on someone of Zancrow’s level.

Natsu slowed to a stop and looked back at Lucy, instinct tugging him back toward her. _It was just an illusion_ , he reminded himself. It was just an illusion, her head and neck were perfectly intact, and the cursey doll was torn in two. She and Loke would be fine. He needed to stop worrying about the girl who saved his ass against Cobra.

Forcing the fears back down, he continued on to Wendy. Sure enough, the youngest dragon slayer was struggling.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, arriving in time to sweep Wendy off her feet away from Zancrow’s black flames.

“Natsu!” Wendy said, practically sighing in relief.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, putting her down and patting the top of her head affectionately. “So this guy’s a flame mage, huh?”

“Not just a flame mage,” Wendy said. “He calls himself a ‘god slayer.’”

Natsu wrinkled his nose. “There are already dragons slayers; what do we need god slayers for?”

Zancrow laughed at Natsu’s disdain. “There’s a reason the old gods haven’t been with us for millennia. The lost art of god slayer magic is superior even to dragon slayers. After all, what is a dragon in the face of a god?”

Natsu made a show of cleaning out his ear with a pinky finger, yawning in exaggerated boredom. “You must be real proud,” he droned.

The Seven Kin all seemed to share one trait: excessive pride. Just like Kain, the moment Natsu showed a lack of interest, Zancrow became enraged. But that rage quickly turned into amusement, and he started giggling.

Natsu scowled. “Cut that out. It’s creepy.”

“Natsu, he’s really strong,” Wendy whispered. “I-I don’t think I have much magic left.”

“Don’t worry,” Natsu said. “I got this.”

A dark inferno began rising around Zancrow, and Natsu set his fists aflame to match. Zancrow’s creepy giggles suddenly transformed into outright evil laughter, and the black fire towered into the air, swirling in intricate patterns above their heads.

While Zancrow was distracted by his little artistic show, Natsu ran in to start the melee.

But Zancrow wasn’t as distracted as he seemed, and he matched Natsu blow for blow. Natsu found an opening to strike a quick uppercut to Zancrow’s chin, only to be met in turn with a knee to the groin.

He backed off, vision spinning for a few moments. Okay, he’d set himself up for that one.

He rushed forward again with reckless abandon, turning himself into a human fireball hurtling straight for his opponent. Zancrow met him head-on, stepping back to absorb Natsu’s momentum, then flipping him around and sending him flying toward the edge of the woods. Natsu stood up quickly, checking to make sure the brush was still wet enough from Juvia’s rain that it hadn’t caught fire.

In that moment of delay, Zancrow followed up his throw with a shout of “Flame God’s Bellow!”

With black flames rushing toward him, Natsu did what was only natural: he swallowed them.

The fire sat in his belly for mere milliseconds before pain began to shoot through his body.

“Natsu! Natsu, are you okay?” Wendy cried. Natsu could vaguely feel her tiny hands fluttering over him, but all he could think about was the pain that had him doubled over and retching on the dirt.

What was this? He’d tried eating his own fire before, but the backlash from that hadn’t been _this_ bad. Natsu couldn’t even see straight. He’d had every bone in his body broken, swallowed every poison imaginable, but this was something else entirely. It was all he could do not to pass out from the pain.

Meanwhile, Zancrow was laughing in the background. “That’s what you get, foolish dragon slayer,” he sneered. “A mere human trying to eat the flames of a god!”

So these god flames couldn’t be eaten. They overpowered Natsu’s own fire like a raging wildfire in the face of a candlestick. They actually _hurt_ to the touch. Natsu, with skin as tough as the scales of a fire dragon, was _hurt_ by this fire. Fire, something he was supposed to be immune to.

And even attempting to eat them had him bent over vomiting blood.

Okay. Maybe he lied when he told Wendy he “got this.”

Maybe he didn’t got this.


	12. Chapter 12

Natsu wasn’t even finished coughing up blood when he sensed another attack coming from Zancrow's direction. Knowing Wendy wouldn’t be able to protect him alone, he fought the pain to grab her and roll to the side just in time to dodge the oncoming attack. With one last heave, he expelled the remaining god flames from his body, leaving him weak but okay.

Gods, that stuff tasted awful, too.

Natsu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sent a narrow look at Zancrow. “Your flames’re nasty,” he spat.

“No, they are simply too powerful for you,” Zancrow said, that annoying grin splitting his face. “Now you see how outmatched you are, right, dragon slayer? Just give up now.”

“Like hell I’m giving up,” Natsu said, rising to his feet. “Wendy, stand back. You did good work here. Take a quick break and get your magic back up, ya hear?”

“But Natsu…”

He turned back and gave her a lopsided grin. “Thanks, but if you’re worrying about me, don’t bother. I can take care of myself from here.” When Wendy only nodded uncertainly, he added, “Go check on Lucy and Loke for me. Gajeel was having a rough time, too.”

“I think everyone is,” Charle said. “If Natsu says he’s fine, we should go assist the others.” Natsu wasn’t surprised to have Charle’s support given it involved getting Wendy out of danger. Though he didn’t always get along with the uptight exceed, but he was glad for her input now. Wendy always listened to her responsible feline friend.

Finally convinced, Wendy nodded more enthusiastically this time and ran off with Charle at her heels.

Meanwhile, Zancrow had been cooking up another attack, which Natsu deftly dodged, drawing his opponent’s attention away from where Wendy and Charle were retreating. With his dragon slayer flames unable to land a scratch on Zancrow, Natsu was stuck on the defensive. Zancrow’s attacks had a pattern to them for the most part, but every once in a while he’d do something that threw Natsu for a loop, and he was stuck scrambling to regain his footing all over again.

It was exhausting.

Natsu cloaked himself in red flames to protect himself from Zancrow’s bellow, struggling to maintain them against the black inferno that stripped him of his protection. Anticipating the followup punch, Natsu countered with a flaming kick that connected but didn’t do more than merely knock some wind out of Zancrow’s lungs. He combined it with a series of punches before landing on his feet at a safe distance.

Natsu might not be able to overpower Zancrow’s black flames, but he could keep this up. One thing he always had going for him was an indomitable stamina.

The earth beneath them unexpectedly began to tremble, distracting Zancrow for just long enough that Natsu was able to get himself together. He usually saved his most powerful attacks as finishing moves, but Natsu was determined to find this guy’s breaking point, and the sooner the better. Stamina or not, this fight was not in his favor, and he needed to turn the tables.

“Dragon Slayer’s Secret Art,” he recited, spreading his legs wide and twisting his torso with arms aflame. Then, like letting go of a spring, he unwound himself, creating a flaming vortex that followed the rotation of his body. “Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!” Fire exploded from his body, filling the air was an oppressive heat that Natsu relished in. He was surrounded by nothing but fire, and it was beautiful.

But when the smoke cleared, Zancrow was still standing unscathed, wrinkling his nose as he fanned away the remnant smoke. “Was that supposed to hurt me?”

“Aw, fuck,” Natsu muttered to himself. “Shit, shit, shit.” Fucking shit. That was his _finishing move_. Well, he was gonna have to get more strategic about this if he wanted to get out alive, which was looking like a less and less likely outcome.

So dragon slayer flames couldn’t match god slayer flames. Fine, whatever. He’d met plenty of mages with stronger magic levels than him before, and he always managed to pull out on top in the end. If he just relied on his instincts, he’d be able to find Zancrow’s weakness. No magic, however ancient, was all-powerful. Even gods could fall to dragons.

One thing Natsu knew was that Zancrow’s fighting style, whether by coincidence or by their shared element, was similar to his own. Predictability was a weakness of Natsu’s with his straightforward fighting style, as was overconfidence. In this case, Zancrow was just wild enough to be unpredictable and just strong enough that his confidence was justified. But there had to be _something_ …

Gears turning in his mind, Natsu threw himself back into fighting, letting his survival instinct drive his actions while he looked for an opportunity.

“Happy,” he called, knowing his best friend was somewhere nearby.

“Aye!”

He reached up and grasped Happy’s paws as he flew by. He locked his legs around Zancrow’s head and immediately let go of Happy, flipping over to swing Zancrow’s body over backwards. Black flames burned at his shins, but he didn’t let the pain deter him.

Zancrow was still human. A durable human with god-like abilities, yes, but even gods were restricted by their own anatomy. And a bad blow to the head would usually do the trick. Or, in this case, the spinal cord.

Zancrow’s neck snapped in a sickening way, jarring him just enough that Natsu was able to sear through his god slayer skin, finding the vertebrae and pinching until he could feel the bones give way with a dull crack.

Zancrow cried out in agony. Black flames burst out in waves of pain, but Natsu kept his hold on Zancrow’s neck and spine until the god slayer finally went limp. Perhaps he was even dead. Actually, he was almost certainly dead, with injuries to such a vital area. Natsu didn’t like killing, but he’d rather kill than die himself.

He staggered back to his feet, breathing heavily. Finally, that hellish battle was over. Fighting a god slayer with such similar magic had proved a challenge almost more than he could handle.

“Are you okay, Natsu?” Happy asked, hovering hesitantly.

Natsu managed a meager smile. “Yeah. Man, I thought I was a goner for a moment there when my Crimson Lotus attack didn’t work. I had to resort to extreme measures.”

“I think he’s dead, Natsu.”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

The sound of someone clapping came from behind him, and he whipped around to see three women standing behind him; one was Juvia but the other two were unfamiliar. The one with the dark hair was applauding him with a smug smirk on her face. “I thought I would have to step in for a moment there. Good work.”

“Who’re you?” he asked, straightening his posture.

“Juvia has made some new friends,” Juvia said.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. “They’re of the Seven Kin, aren’t they?”

“Their names are Ultear and Meredy,” Juvia said.

“Don’t worry, we’re on your side now,” the one called Ultear said. “Well, I still have some issues to work out with Gray, but I’m not leaving Meredy, and she wants to help you.”

“Why?” Natsu couldn’t help but ask.

This time Meredy spoke. “Through my magic, Juvia showed me something that made me realize I was wrong. With Ultear’s support, I wish to help your investigation. I do not want Fiore to be destroyed.”

“I have no idea what any of what you just said means, but thanks,” Natsu said, scratching his head. He wasn’t about to refuse help if it was genuine.

His eyes strayed to the canyon where he left Lucy and Loke. Gajeel and Levy were down there too, not to mention he’d sent Wendy down there. It was unusually quiet, and he hoped that was a good sign rather than a foreboding one.

“Everyone is fine,” Juvia said, correctly judging Natsu’s train of thought. “You were the last fight to finish.”

“Damn,” he said, “even Gray?”

Juvia hid a wry smile. “Lord Gray… I finished his fight. Lord Gray is unconscious.”

“My bad,” Ultear said, rolling her eyes.

Natsu burst out laughing. “Oh man, that’s rich! Where is he? I wanna laugh in his comatose face.”

“Natsu, Lord Gray is unconscious. Lord Gray will not be able to hear you taunting him.”

“So? It’s hilarious!”

“You might want to fix yourself up first,” Meredy said. “You look a little worse for the wear as well.”

“Yeah, you look bad, Natsu,” Happy added.

Natsu looked down at his body, clothes torn and bloody, burns on his arms and legs, and something warm and sticky trickling down in front of his ear. Not to mention his entire face felt scratched up and swollen. Well, at least he wasn’t unconscious like Gray. He’d finished two fights by himself, and Gray hadn’t even made it through one.

“Wait, Gray didn’t have any other fights besides yours, did he?” he said, looking to Ultear.

“No; I went after him from the very start,” she said. “Let’s just say I hold a grudge.”

Natsu grinned. “Nice.”

“It’s not ‘nice,’ Natsu,” Juvia said, frowning. Juvia always got pissy when he dissed Gray, so Natsu didn’t let her negativity dampen his good mood. Especially after that exhausting fight, this was the best news he’d heard all day. As for why the person who put Gray in that state was on their side now, he’d just have to wait for a better explanation for that one. The girls weren’t being very forthcoming.

“I’m never gonna let him live this one down,” Natsu said gleefully. “Well, I’m done here. Let’s go back.”

“Juvia is afraid of Wendy having a heart attack when she sees what condition Natsu is in.”

Natsu grimaced. He wasn’t looking forward to it either. “Not like I can hide it,” he said.

“True.”

Sure enough, Wendy literally shrieked with horror when she saw Natsu’s condition, drawing everyone else’s attention as well. Erza had to be physically restrained from running over, which was probably for the best because she was often unaware of her own strength and would only injure him further. Natsu caught Lucy’s eye and got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at the expression in her eyes.

“Damn, did you die or something?” Gajeel said. “You look awful.”

“Not quite,” Natsu said. “Zancrow’s the one who’s dead.”

“Damn.”

“You should sit down,” Lucy said, approaching him and pushing on his shoulder to get him to the ground. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”

“I’ll be fine,” Natsu insisted, though now that she mentioned it, he was feeling a little lightheaded, Wendy seemed to have replenished her magic energy somehow, since Charle wasn’t saying anything as her hands worked over Natsu’s worst injuries.

“Natsu aside, Juvia has found help for our next steps,” Juvia said.

“Wait, where’s Gray?” Natsu said, not ready for the serious talk to start before he could get his jokes in.

“Gray is resting in the shade. He’s fine; he just has a bad concussion. Levy’s watching him,” Erza said. “You, on the other hand, will stay here and let Wendy do what she must. Understood?”

Natsu swallowed. “Aye, sir.”

“Back to the topic at hand,” Erza said. “Juvia, you said you found help? Is that what these two are here for?”

“Yes,” Juvia said, stepping aside to let Meredy and Ultear introduce themselves. Initial apprehension didn’t fade even as they promised to give good information. Just moments ago, they had been enemies; Natsu wasn’t the only one suspicious of their motives for switching over.

But Juvia explained that Meredy’s unique magic allowed her to read Juvia’s emotions, and it had inspired her somehow to live for love rather than revenge. It all sounded like sappy nonsense to Natsu.

“I can’t believe Fairy Tail’s ‘power of friendship’ bullshit actually turned a bad guy good,” Gajeel scoffed.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Natsu said, frowning. “You and Juvia came to us the same way.”

“Nah, it’s not like I got inspired or anything; it was Juvia who kept bugging me until I joined, and you know how persistent she is. The whole family thing was just an unexpected bonus.”

“How exactly do you plan to help us?” Erza asked, focused as always. Natsu was already so distracted by the turn of conversation that he almost forgot they were trying to get information here.

“Grimoire Heart was working under the instruction of Tartarus,” Meredy said. “Our purpose was to assist in bringing back Zeref through the revival of END. Only Master Hades knew the identity of our contact from Tartarus, but now he’s…”

“He has been slain,” Erza confirmed, a hand on her sword.

“From what I can gather, Tartarus’s base is in the capital,” Ultear said.

The Fairy Tail members all looked at each other.

“I guess that confirms Makarov’s suspicions that the government is somehow involved in all this,” Lucy said.

“We already knew that much,” Natsu said. “But the fact that they’re based in the capital just makes it even worse.”

“This is pretty damning information,” Erza said. She crossed her arms. “Anything else?”

“If you want the exact location, I can’t tell you. We were always visited by messengers, never the other way around,” Ultear said. “What I _can_ say is that this goes up pretty high, but not all the way to the king himself.”

“So the king is ignorant to all this,” Lucy said.

“He’s basically a puppet,” Meredy said. “Most of the high-ranking officials should be connected to Tartarus. We don’t know who’s giving them orders, though. Only Mater Hades knew everything, and he’s—”

“Dead,” Erza confirmed yet again.

“I still can’t believe the Master is dead,” Meredy said, wrapping her arms around herself. Natsu felt a tug of sympathy. Even if they were evil, apparently all guilds got attached to their guildmasters.

“That’s what happens in battle,” Ultear said. “We’ve lost many comrades in the past; this is no different.”

“I suppose,” Meredy said, still frowning.

“If that’s all the information you have, I’m afraid it’s nothing new to us,” Erza said.

“That’s not all,” Meredy said quickly. “Along with the Element Four, we were supposed to head west to the residence of a powerful mage who claimed to have insights on how to awaken Zeref’s most powerful demon, END.”

“END? What’s that stand for?” Natsu said.

Meredy and Ultear looked at each other and shrugged.

“We don’t know,” Meredy said.

“In any case, he claims to have the information, but he’s known to be difficult, so we were going to all go together to get the information out of him.”

“He’s that powerful?” Lucy said.

“At least Wizard Saint level,” Ultear said. “He’s a Dreyar, after all.”

“An evil Dreyar,” Natsu noted. “Definitely Ivan.”

“If you agree to let us go free, we’ll tell you the location,” Ultear said. “Of course, we’ll stay out of trouble.”

“Can we trust you?” Erza said.

Ultear laughed. “Me, probably not. While I’m being honest here, I might as well mention I’m the one who mind-controlled Jellal all those years ago.”

Natsu’s hands and feet instinctively lit aflame. This woman in front of him was the reason for all that pain and suffering years ago. This woman was the reason Jellal made Erza cry.

Erza’s was at Ultear’s throat in an instant. Ultear seemed unmoved, obviously expecting that reaction.

“See? You can’t trust me,” Ultear said, voice strained by Erza’s hand around her neck. “But Meredy is a good kid. She’s like my younger sister, or even a daughter. I’ve done my best to raise her to become a good person, unlike me. I always knew that if I ever left the life of crime, it would be either through death or to follow Meredy when she finally comes into her own, as she has done today. At least Meredy should be let go safely. I don’t care about myself.”

“No, Ultear, don’t say that,” Meredy cried.

“Let them go,” Juvia said. She put a hand on Erza’s shoulder. “Lord Gray has issues to settle with Ultear as well; Juvia begs Erza not to do anything before Lord Gray can also have his closure. Juvia will explain later, but for now, let them go.”

Erza hesitated, but heeded Juvia’s words and backed off. “I hope you have a very good explanation,” she said, still staring down Ultear as she gasped for breath.

“Juvia wouldn’t say that if it weren’t.”

“It’s a town by the coast,” Ultear said, voice still raspy. “Where Phantom Lord used to operate.”

“Oak Town,” Erza said.

“So that’s why you wanted to use the Element Four,” Gajeel said.

“It was the obvious choice.”

“The Master should have the specific address somewhere on his person,” Meredy added. “The appointment was set for a week from today.”

A lull fell over the group. Erza headed off to search the guildmaster’s body for the address while the rest stood around awkwardly, tension in the air palpable. Natsu was starting to feel a little less dizzy, though whether it was from Wendy’s healing magic or Lucy letting him lean on her to stay upright, he didn’t know.

“What was all that about Jellal?” Lucy whispered, curiosity getting the better of her.

Natsu contemplated how to answer her. She knew a little from when they encountered him with the Oración Seis, but she’d never really gotten the full story of his history with Erza and the others at Fairy Tail.

“That’s Erza’s story to tell,” he said finally, hyperaware of the other dragonslayers’ eyes on him. In this company, Lucy might as well have just spoken normally; whispering around dragon slayers was pointless.

Erza returned quickly with a note in her hand. “They were telling the truth,” she said. “This address is for a location in Oak Town.”

“Then are we letting them go?” Gajeel asked.

“Not yet,” Erza said. “Meredy, you two will tell us all you know about Tartarus. Even if it’s repetitive information, we need to know everything. And Gray and I still have business with Ultear.”

“I’m talking to her first,” came Gray’s voice from behind them. Levy guided him as he walked, carefully making sure he didn’t become unsteady on his feet.

Natsu grinned. “Well if it isn’t the fainting popsicle,” he said. “How’s it feel to not win a single fight?”

Gray looked Natsu’s bloody body up and down. “Yeah, like you’re one two talk. I just got hit on the head, not put through a meat grinder.” Before Natsu could retort, he continued, “The woman who raised me after Deliora was Ultear’s mother. I’m the reason Ur died, so you could say I’m the one who turned her to the dark side in the first place.”

“I thought we already established that it wasn’t your fault, Gray,” Erza said.

“Not everyone’s as forgiving as you are, Erza,” Gray said. “Ultear and I need to have a little chat about Ur. Once that’s done, you can do what you want with her, Erza.”

“If things are as you say they are, I probably won’t kill her or anything,” Erza said.

“You really are too forgiving,” Gray said, half laughing.

Erza didn’t say anything to that.

Wendy’s hands pulled away from Natsu and she slumped, exhausted. Charle caught her before Natsu could.

“Thanks, Wendy,” he said.

She gave him a smiling thumbs-up.

“Gajeel,” Lucy said, “is there any way we could use the Phantom Lord facilities? At the very least we need to wash all this blood off.”

“Yeah, your clothes are a mess,” Natsu said. Lucy’s trademark outfit was stained red and brown from the fighting. He’d have to ask her how her fight with Capricorn went; she looked fine, so it must’ve went well. And a quick glance at her belt showed him that there was one more key on there than earlier. The proud smile that stretched his lips ended up looking more like a smirk.

“It’s all _your_ blood,” Lucy said. “How long are you going to need to lean against me, anyway? You’re heavy.”

Natsu purposefully leaned even more of his weight against Lucy’s shoulder. “Oh, am I?”

“Stop that,” Lucy whined as Natsu cackled.

A surprise fist at the back of his neck picked Natsu up, plopping him on his own two feet.

“You seem to be fine now thanks to Wendy,” Erza said. “Now let’s get moving, shall we?”

“Gajeel, lead the way,” Levy said.

Lucy stood up and brushed the dirt from her knees. Despite Erza relieving her of duty, she immediately gave her shoulder to Natsu yet again, for which he was much more thankful than he wanted to admit. He was still a little low on blood. And the natural ease with which Lucy lent him her support gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach that he wasn’t quite ready to put a name to.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning:
> 
> Beginning dream sequence is a bit graphic. It ends after the line break.

He heard her. Lisanna. Her summery laugh drifted on the breeze, mixing with the scent of wildflowers in the field they used to play in as children, where they found and hatched Happy.

Ah. This dream again.

As he always did, Natsu reached out to take Lisanna’s hand. She was smiling brightly, the same smile that sometimes pained Natsu to see reflected on Mira’s face. But that smile quickly turned to confusion, then fear, and Natsu realized that his hand was that of a doll. The cursey doll.

Those cursed hands that were both his and not his reached past Lisanna’s outstretched hand and wrapped themselves around her neck. He pushed her to the ground, knees sinking into the mud, and squeezed.

Every fiber of his being was crying for this to stop, but he couldn’t control his own body. His mind was trapped by the sensation of Lisanna’s slender neck and the strained pulse of her blood pushing against his fingers.

He tried to cry out, but he had no control over his voice either. He watched from up-close as her eyes filled with tears, spilling over like a river that became an ocean as her face slowly turned blue.

And then the light left her eyes and she went limp.

As suddenly as it began, the possession of his body stopped, and he sprang away from her. He stared in horror at the unconscious body before him. She wasn’t breathing. She would never breathe again.

He was a murderer.

He collapsed back to his knees. The meadow by now had become a sea of inky black; the only things visible were his hands and the girl they’d killed.

Lisanna. He’d murdered his own best friend.

 

Natsu awoke breathing heavily. His back was sweaty and when he reached up to wipe his face, he realized there were tears streaming down his cheeks.

He sniffed and quickly wiped them away. The last thing he needed was for someone to see him like this. Happy was the only one who knew he still had that dream, and he sure as hell was going to keep it that way.

No matter how many times his friends tried to tell him that Lisanna’s death wasn’t his fault, he could never forgive himself. It was his idea to follow Elfman on a mission before they were old enough to get jobs. It was his idiotic self that had inadvertently let the enemy get a strand of his hair for their cursey doll. And in the end, it was his hands that had killed her.

He took deep breaths to calm his racing heart. By the look of the sky, it was almost morning. He was in no mood to go back to sleep and have that dream play out all over again, so he groaned and stretched his back. The rest would be up soon, and they’d be on their way.

In the end, after much debate, the team had decided to split up. Ultear and Meredy were sent off to wander the land, _much like Jellal_ , Natsu mused. Gajeel, Juvia, and Levy left to report back to Makarov.

The remaining members were all headed west. Oak Town was northwest of their destination, and Crocus to the far southwest. So they would head together for about a day’s worth of travels before splitting up and meeting again down the in town where Blue Pegasus used to be.

The plan to go to Crocus at all had been Lucy’s idea.

“We have three things that need doing right now,” she’d said. “We need to compare notes with Makarov to see how the information we found and that he already has fit together. We need to show up for the appointment with Ivan to see what he knows. And we need to find the contact point among the government officials who is communicating with Tartarus.”

“I understand reporting to Magnolia and visiting Ivan,” Erza said, “but Crocus can wait until later. We’ll need manpower if we want Ivan to talk.”

“Ivan is a mage in a town with strong government presence,” Lucy said. “Phantom Lord was driven out of Oak Town and had to move here. If Ivan is still there, he’s probably laying low.”

“She’s right,” Gray said. He’d passed out from pain more than anything, and his injuries were healing quickly thanks to Wendy prioritizing him over the others. “Ivan is a proud man; we know that better than anyone.”

They all nodded.

Gray continued, “To me, the demands he made of Tartarus in exchange for his help are no more than a bluff. Recruiting the Element Four seems like overkill. Multiple members of Fairy Tail have beat him singlehandedly; I don’t know what rumors they heard of his power, but they’re vastly inflated.”

“That is a good point,” Erza said. “Their talk of getting backup had me thinking he was more powerful than my memory tells me. A small team should be plenty.”

“You’re all certainly strong enough,” Lucy said. “If Erza can singlehandedly take out the master of one of the most powerful dark guilds in the country, a washed-up guildmaster of a defeated guild should be easy.”

“You spoke of going to Crocus,” Erza said. “Explain your reasoning. I’m listening this time.”

“We need to go there eventually if we’re to find the government connection to Tartarus,” she said. “Of the officials Natsu and I saw originally, many were based in Crocus. The focus should definitely be on Ivan, since he is a confirmed point of contact and claims to know about this demon they’re trying to revive, but while we’re in the area, we should investigate the government and get that portion over with.”

“I still don’t see why this needs to be done now,” Erza said.

Lucy glanced at Natsu, her eyes lingering. Natsu stared back, trying to read her thoughts but failing. “I have a method of getting the information quickly,” she said slowly. “I have a history with government officials that goes beyond my work as the Celestial Spirit. I only ask that you lend me Natsu.”

So she was still trying to keep her background a secret. For what reason, Natsu had no clue; Fairy Tail didn’t judge others based on their backgrounds and she’d been with them for long enough that they should be trustworthy at this point. But for all her conviction about this plan, there was a hint of hesitance in her expression that Natsu couldn’t help but notice. Something was there. Something was making her more nervous about this than her words alone indicated.

Erza seemed to pick up on it too, because she considered Lucy’s face carefully before responding. “Very well. Will you be done within the week? Crocus is far from here.”

“Of course,” Lucy said. “Perhaps sooner.”

“You know the rendezvous point for meeting with the others, of course.”

“Of course,” she said. “I was there for the discussion itself.”

“Then I trust your words that you will get us the information quickly. Find out whatever you can. Natsu, you go with her. Happy too.”

“Happy always comes with me,” Natsu pointed out. He grinned at Lucy. Looks like they were going to be a team of just the three of them soon. He was looking forward to it.

“Thank you,” Lucy said. “I promise I won’t disappoint.”

And with that, they decided to travel west together for about a day before splitting up to go to their respective destinations. Lucy remained tight-lipped about her plan, but Natsu managed to glean that they were infiltrating the government somehow. It made more sense to him to bring Erza along so she could assert her knightly status, but Lucy had insisted she needed only Natsu.

Sitting in the dim light of approaching dawn, Natsu glanced over at his soon-to-be-partner sleeping in the open air with Plue by her side as always. The celestial creature wasn’t brought out as often as Natsu would’ve assumed given the dog’s association with her in all the rumors; she mostly called him out at night, and even then it wasn’t all the time. Something about contracts, she said.

Plue’s back paws twitched in his sleep. Natsu snorted. So even celestial dogs dreamt about chasing things, just like regular dogs did. Wolf, dog, whatever. It was funny regardless.

But watching the others sleep was a little creepy, and Natsu didn’t like feeling like a creep, so he stood up to gather more firewood. They didn’t need more, but by the time he returned, the rest were sure to start waking up. And really, he just needed something to do to get his mind off that dream he had.

And a little time alone to collect himself couldn’t hurt. The last thing he needed was Erza’s sharp gaze noticing the red rims under his eyes from all that crying in his sleep he probably did.

 

When daylight broke and the others woke up, they all traveled to the nearest town to rest before splitting up the next morning. After weeks of eating little else but fish, wild game, and edible plants, real cooked food at a real tavern felt like a luxury.

“It’sh a shteak,” Natsu said, mouth full of steak and drool practically dripping out of his mouth. “It’sh an actual shteak.”

“We can see that, Natsu,” Lucy said, eyeing him sideways with a frown. “We can _all_ see that.”

“She means for you to shut your piehole while you chew,” Gray pointed out.

“Oh,” Natsu said. “Shorry Lushy.”

“You’re spitting bits of chewed meat on me,” Lucy complained.

“Shorry.”

“If you’re sorry, you would stop,” Gray said.

Natsu kept his mouth shut after that. In fact, the entire table was silent except for the sounds of utensils clinking against plates and the occasional crunch of a fresh vegetable. They ate ravenously.

“Sir Erza.”

Natsu looked up, noticing a dapper man who had approached their table, several younger men behind him. He was eyeing the team suspiciously. Natsu stopped chewing and put down his fork. He didn’t like the look of this guy.

“Sir Doranbolt,” Erza said, recognizing the man as a fellow knight. “What brings you to these parts?”

“I could ask the same of yourself. I heard you were on vacation. The council will not be pleased to hear you’ve been hanging around your old cohorts.”

“It is no crime to keep in touch with old friends,” Erza said, “but I do realize how it could look, and that is why I took leave to do so. Say, how does it back in Clover? I heard the guildmasters have been stirring up trouble again.”

“You have heard correctly. In fact, your former guildmaster is among the ones on our watch list,” Doranbolt said.

Natsu feigned surprise. This conversation was already treading in very dangerous waters. It was obvious the two knights were testing each other, and Natsu had to play along and give all the proper reactions.

Erza raised her eyebrows. “That is the first I’ve heard of Makarov in years. He’s still around?”

“So it would seem,” Doranbolt said. “If you or any of your friends hear heard anything, it would be in your best interests to inform the council.”

“Of course,” Erza said. “Above all else, I am a knight.” She glanced warily at her teammates. “Let us talk elsewhere. This reunion can pause for a moment. Right, Natsu?”

“Uh. Yeah, sure.”

He watched in silent confusion as Erza and Doranbolt exited the tavern together. Doranbolt’s men stood around awkwardly, gathering near the bar and talking amongst themselves.

“What was that about?” Lucy said.

“Knight stuff,” Natsu said, shrugging.

“Well yeah, obviously,” Lucy said.

“Erza will explain when she gets back,” Gray guessed.

But she didn’t explain. When she and Doranbolt returned, he gathered up his men and left, and Erza didn’t say a word about what happened, instead choosing to blather on about the delicious food. When she got up to approach the bar for a drink, Natsu volunteered to be the one to follow her.

“How’d it go?” Natsu asked. He knew she’d know what he was talking about.

“Well,” Erza said simply.

“What does that mean? Is he still suspicious?”

Erza leveled a stern look. “This is business between knights,” she said. “It is not for discussion with citizens.”

“Come on, I’m not just any citizen, am I?” Natsu whined.

“If I learn any information pertinent to our mission, I will let everyone know. Outside of that, it really is business between knights. I do not discuss government affairs with ordinary citizens, guildmates or not. I am a knight just as much as I am a member of Fairy Tail.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Natsu said, pouting. “Fairy Tail is a family, not some ridiculous soldier club.” He didn’t like Erza, his Erza, their Erza, keeping things from them because of an outside organization that she shouldn’t have had to join in the first place. And worst of all, he could tell she enjoyed being a knight. Until the ban, his friends had been each other’s family, but now they were finding new families. All except for Natsu.

Natsu was jerked from his frustrated thoughts by a hard knock to the head where Erza had pulled him to her armored breast.

“Fairy Tail still comes first,” she assured him. “I’d break every rule of knighthood if it meant doing the right thing for my friends. Rest assured, Natsu. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know that much,” Natsu muttered. But he was nonetheless glad to hear Erza say it.

“Still, I’d rather not take unnecessary risks with the Council. Oversharing is a bad habit to have in those circles.”

“Fine,” Natsu said. “I trust you.” He was still uneasy, but she was being logical and he was being stupidly emotional, so she was probably the right one here.

“You can repeat what I said to the others,” Erza said. “I know they sent you.”

“I would’ve come anyway,” he said. He did as she said and went back to the table.

“So?” Gray said.

Natsu shrugged. “She’s not telling. She said she’d let us know if it was anything important.”

“Well that’s boring,” Gray said. He crossed his arms.

“You could’ve just asked her directly,” Lucy said. She was met with horrified stares from all three of her human companions, as well as both exceeds. “What?”

“It’s Erza,” Happy said. “You don’t just _ask_ Erza directly.”

“Shh, we’re in public,” Charle hushed, nudging Happy back into cat-like silence. He pouted and meowed at her in response.

Lucy reached a hand to absently scratch Happy behind the ears.

“The guards are all gone, right?” Wendy said. “We should talk about our plans more.”

“That’s right,” Gray said. “Though these two are pretty tight-lipped about their part.” He looked mainly at Lucy for that remark.

Lucy smirked. “Not even a hint,” she said.

“Damn, woman. There are no secrets in Fairy Tail; whatever you’re hiding, we’ll figure it out soon enough.”

“By that time it’ll have already happened,” Lucy said confidently.

“Not if Erza gets it out of you tonight.”

“She can try me.”

“Is that a challenge?” Erza said, setting a mug on the table with a loud thud.

Lucy looked up. “Oh, you’re back. Only if you want it to be.”

Erza eyed Lucy carefully as she sat down, but finally just sighed. “I said I’d trust you, so I’m going to do so. You’re part of the team now, so I need to trust that you have a good reason, just as I hope you all trust me when I say my conversation with Doranbolt revealed nothing worth reporting.”

“Of course,” Wendy said quickly. “Everyone has things they can and cannot say out loud. For job reasons and personal reasons alike.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Erza said.

“Likewise. I promise I’ll explain later if everything goes well. If not…”

“It’ll go well,” Natsu said quickly, not wanting her to finish that sentence. Whatever she was about to say, he could tell he wouldn’t like it.

Bolstered by Natsu’s confident statement, Lucy nodded, determination set in her eyes. “Right. I’ll make sure of it.”

 

After spending dinner eating at a real dining establishment — in Natsu’s eyes, taverns were close enough to a restaurant and “real food” to count — they likewise spent the night at a real inn. Funds were sparse and needed to be managed tightly, so they were all sharing a room with two double beds. The girls were all going to cram together like sardines, with the two boys and male exceed together on the other bed.

“I’m not sharing with Gray,” Natsu said defiantly when Lucy joined him in the small living room part of their hotel room.

“And that’s why you’re out here?”

“Of course.”

An amused smile adorned her lips. “Of course,” she repeated. “Happy doesn’t seem to mind, you know. He and Gray are both already asleep.”

“Happy’s a traitor,” Natsu said.

“He would be sad to hear accuse him of such a thing.”

“He knows what he did.”

Lucy laughed again, though Natsu didn’t see what was so funny. Gray was an annoying bastard, and Natsu reserved the right to refuse to sleep in the same bed as him. It was insulting to even suggest such a thing, really.

Lucy pressed her forefinger between his eyebrows. “You’ll get wrinkles if you’re like that all the time,” she said.

“Like what?”

“Your eyebrows. They’re always furrowed.”

He tried relaxing them. It felt strange and uncomfortable. Maybe he really _was_ like that all the time. Huh. He never even noticed.

“You don’t have to be so tense. You’ll get your muscles into knots. Here, let me try massaging your shoulders.”

Natsu jumped up. “Please don’t kill me,” he blurted, thinking of the times Erza tried to “massage” his back. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but hindsight was 20/20.

“I’m not going to _hurt_ you,” Lucy said.

“That’s what Erza said, too,” Natsu said.

“Well I’m not Erza. I promise I’ll be gentle.”

Cautiously, Natsu sat back down and brought Happy back onto his lap. Lucy sat behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. Then she began to massage his shoulders and back, and though it was painful sometimes, it was a good kind of pain. It felt good. He could feel the tension being kneaded away by Lucy’s hands.

“You’re good at this,” Natsu decided, closing his eyes with pleasure.

“Am I?” Lucy said uncertainly. “I’ve actually never done this before, though I’ve had it done to me by servants when I was still at home. I’m just trying to imitate what they did.”

“Well you’re doing a good job,” Natsu said. He groaned with pleasure. “Oh, gods yes, that feels good.”

Lucy giggled. “Good thing the others are asleep right now or they’d get the wrong idea if you make sounds like that. Though if you wake them up, you’ll have to deal with the consequences. I’m not dealing with a tired, angry Erza because of you.”

“Whatever. Just don’t stop.”

“I won’t. Not until I can get some of this tension out of you.”

They sat in silence for a while, and Natsu just let Lucy massage his muscles, releasing a deep-set ache that he hadn’t even realized was there. Maybe he should go for a real professional massage sometime. Apparently he needed it.

And apparently he fell asleep mid-massage because he awoke on a bed with Gray, a blanket draped over him. So much for not sleeping together. Well, it couldn’t be helped. And Lucy had even gone so far as to put him to bed; sleeping on the floor at this point would be rude.

He sat up groggily and saw that Lucy had already gone to sleep as well. In a strange bit of irony, even from this distance, Natsu could see the wrinkle between her eyebrows. Seems he wasn’t the only one with a habit of frowning.

Natsu went over to Lucy’s bed — which she shared with both Erza and Wendy — and crouched by her head. Plue stirred, looking up from the floor below Lucy with curious eyes. Natsu just smiled and poked a finger at the wrinkle in Lucy’s brow. It got wrinklier for a moment when Lucy scrunched up her face, but a gentle caress of her cheek smoothed out her expression into a beatific smile. With a short hum, she shifted in her sleep and settled into a more comfortable position, the faint smile still on her lips.

Natsu grinned at Plue. The wolf seemed to nod before going back to sleep himself, satisfied. Natsu agreed; this kind of content Lucy was much better.


	14. Chapter 14

Natsu had only been to Crocus once or twice; the heavy police presence in Fiore’s capital deterred him from making it a regular stop on his travels, no matter how convenient the location. But Lucy insisted they stay at an inn within the city itself. Where she planned to get the money for lodging fees, he had no clue.

Rich sweet and earthy smells drifted across cobblestone streets and assaulted Natsu’s senses from every direction. Lucy had to physically restrain Natsu from swiping food from the street stalls they passed. To be honest, Natsu would welcome the excuse to camp outside the city, but Lucy insisted they not get in trouble with the police so soon. Killjoy.

“Fish, Natsu,” Happy pointed out.

“No,” came Lucy’s swift response.

“Do you even have a plan?” Natsu said.

“Stop pouting. Of course I have a plan. Who do you think I am?”

“You’re Lucy.”

She smiled. “That’s right. So just trust me. We’re going to find an inn to stay at, and you’re going to stay there quietly while I get information.”

“So we can’t even leave?”

“We’re investigating people who are very high up in society. I have experience with those types of people, but you don’t.”

“Right,” Natsu said. Sometimes he forgot that Lucy had elite origins. After beating two dark guilds with her and his Fairy Tail friends, it almost felt like she was one of them.

“How will we get a room?” Happy asked. “We don’t have any money.”

Lucy grinned, holding up one of her keys. “You’ll see.”

 

Five minutes later, Natsu was standing in a rather nice two-bed suite in downtown Crocus. Though Capricorn was primarily a melee spirit like Loke, he apparently had quite a way with words. Natsu’s head was still spinning from trying to follow the conversation Capricorn had with the front desk clerk. All he knew was that somehow they were staying here for free. Somehow.

Lucy plopped him and Happy down on one of the beds, ordered them to _not leave the room_ _under_ _any circumstances_ , and promptly left. Natsu watched her exit the inn from a window that overlooked the street. He had no idea where in Crocus they were, nor where Lucy was headed, and the anxiety of not knowing was eating at him. Still, Lucy knew best, and he didn’t want to make the Celestial Spirit mad. He’d seen her in action several times now, and she was as ruthless as the rumors made her out to be.

She didn’t return until evening. Natsu hadn’t moved from his spot by the window, so he watched her rushing back in the glow of the yellow streetlights. Something about it seemed mysterious and sneaky. Fiore’s most wanted vigilante sneaking around at twilight.

The door swung open, and Lucy bounced in, a smile on her face and a garment bag in her arms.

“Good news,” she said, flinging the bag on her bed and twirling herself into a seated position beside it. “I have our in.”

“Our in?”

“The man we saw at that meeting was the Chief Advisor, and based on what we know from our new intel, he is probably part of Tartarus. And, being the Chief Advisor, he is heavily involved in government affairs.”

“Yeah…?” None of this was new information to Natsu. He was waiting for her to get to her point.

“Tomorrow there is a formal…well, it’s called a dinner, but really it’s more of a socializing event where the politicians from different high government branches all schmooze and discuss current events. They bring their spouses, of course. I guess you could call it a fancy party.”

“How does that affect us, though?” Natsu said.

Lucy grinned, patting the bag next to her. “We’re going to crash it.”

“…how?” Natsu eyed the bag warily.

“There is nothing wealthy people hate more than being suspected of wrongdoing, so guards are wary of questioning the elite officials who pass through the palace gates. So, you are going to impersonate a minor lord and get the both of us in there. The other officials will trust those at this party, so perhaps we can find out what exactly the Chief Advisor’s role is in Tartarus, and maybe even learn of his relationship to this mysterious Lord of theirs.”

Natsu still had the same question. “But _how_?”

“How what?”

“How will we even get in? I’m not rich. We don’t have any money. We’re both criminals as far as the government is concerned; they’d never let us in.”

Lucy reached into the garment bag, fishing around for something. When she withdrew her arm, a thick piece of parchment was in her hand.

“That’s the royal seal,” Happy exclaimed, flying over to Lucy to get a closer look. “It’s an invitation to attend an official dinner in the palace ballroom.”

“How’d you get that?” Natsu said.

Lucy smiled, waving a key in the air. “Remember how I said Gemini can transform into anyone they meet? I just had them impersonate a guard and get some information for me.”

Natsu was baffled. Could Gemini even be that separated from Lucy? And how would they have known their way around? Even a palace guard was only likely to have small amounts of information. Finding out about the party was one thing, since guards would be informed of any events, but getting a spare invitation was something else entirely.

“I see you’re doubting me,” Lucy said, looking more amused than anything. “I told you to just trust me. I know what I’m doing. Whether it’s my hometown or the palace, royalty or not, upper society all functions the same way. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine. Look.” She opened the garment bag, revealing a long pink gown and a crisp suit inside. “They’re both stolen, but they’re our sizes. With some strategic hair styling from Cancer, we’ll blend right in.”

Natsu put his hands on his head. “Cancer’s going to do my hair?”

“It’s too spiky and wild,” Lucy said.

Natsu whimpered “Noooo.”

“Natsu spikes it on purpose,” Happy said. “It’s naturally straight, but he uses heat to make it permanently messy.”

“I think you’d look good with straight hair,” Lucy said.

Natsu shook his head. “No.”

“You’re not going to reject my plan just because of your hair, right?”

Natsu pouted. “Do I have to do it?”

“I can’t very well go by myself; in this society, any ladies in government positions will be well-known due to their scarcity. But if it’s a lord, they won’t think it strange that they don’t recognize you.”

“Fine,” he drawled.

“Good,” Lucy said. She stretched and yawned. “I’m going to sleep. I’ve been out all day and my magic reserves are exhausted.”

Natsu wasn’t tired yet, so he just stared out the window as Lucy changed into a nightgown, then watched her settle into her bed. She fell asleep almost instantly.

“Hey, Natsu?” Happy said.

“Yeah?”

“What’ll I do? Lucy didn’t say anything about me.”

Nastu thought about it. “Well, if we’re going to some fancy dinner, it’d be in bad taste to bring a cat. You’ll probably have to stay in the apartment and make sure our stuff doesn’t get stolen while we’re gone.”

“Like anyone would want to steal your smelly sleeping bag,” Happy said, snickering.

“How nice of you to volunteer to clean it, Happy,” Natsu retorted.

“I’ll tell Lucy you’re being mean to me when she wakes up.”

“I dare you to try it. She’s the one who lectures you the most anyway.”

“Whatever. You guys are giving me the boring job anyway.”

“Sorry, buddy.”

“I’ll just have to be the unsung hero. Left behind because he’s a different species, but he secretly has the most important job of all.”

“That’s the spirit!” Natsu high-fived Happy’s paw.

“You should really sleep, Natsu. What if the party lasts until late?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “You sleep first. I’m not tired yet.”

“But Natsu…”

“Okay, okay. Goodnight, Happy.”

“Goodnight.”

 

In the morning, they went out early to get closer to the palace. They didn’t have the money to hire a carriage, and they’d arouse suspicion by wandering around Crocus in their expensive clothing on foot, so they had to find a good place to change. Happy was following them out of boredom, mostly. And to tease Natsu about his flat hair.

They wandered down the main street, garment bag slung over Natsu’s arm. It was a warm day, and sunny, though the light was fading as the day came to an end. It made Natsu want to go out into the woods and do some fishing, but now wasn’t the time for that.

He was also extremely hungry. They’d gotten a room for free, but food was another question entirely. So hungry.

Hearing the name of Lucy’s public persona, Natsu picked up on the conversation of two men behind them.

“Come to think of it, there haven’t been any reports about her lately. Did she retire or something?”

“Well, we would’ve heard of it if the authorities caught her. People praise her like she’s some savior who cares about the lives of commoners, but then where is she now when people are still getting attacked by demons? Guess the Celestial Spirit got tired of playing hero and—”

Natsu whirled around and grabbed the speaker by the collar, hoisting him off the ground. “Shut the fuck up,” he growled. “You don’t know a thing about how hard she works for shits like you.”

A hand rested on his shoulder. “Natsu.”

Reluctantly, Natsu lowered the man back to the ground and let him leave with his friend muttering about how violent the Celestial Spirit’s fans were. If only they knew the Celestial Spirit herself had just saved them from a violent pounding. Natsu was livid.

“It’s fine,” Lucy said. “Some people are just like that. There’s nothing you can do about it. And it’s true that I’ve disappeared lately. Without knowing the truth, it’s only natural that people would wonder if I’ve abandoned my activities.”

“They were bad-mouthing you,” Natsu fumed.

“I know. It’s fine. Come on, Happy got distracted by a fishcake stand again and if we don’t get over there fast, he’s gonna eat it all, and then how will we pay for that?”

Natsu looked at Lucy. She was smiling like normal. If she wasn’t upset by the comments, then maybe it was unreasonable for him to be on her behalf. And she was right about Happy.

“Happy, you can’t eat that,” Natsu said, marching over to the vendor. The fishcakes smelled great, but risk of thievery was exactly why Lucy hadn’t let them go out yesterday. Natsu didn’t want to be confined to that tiny hotel room again. It was boring in there.

“But Natsu, I’m hungry,” Happy whined.

“I know, buddy, but food costs money and we can’t afford snacks. Come on.”

Happy pouted, but he dutifully landed by Natsu’s heels and followed him back to Lucy.

“And you’ve got to stop flying around like that in a place like this. There are government people everywhere, so someone might know about the exceeds and capture you.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be careful.”

“We’re almost at the palace,” Lucy said as they crossed a bridge. Below them, small boats paddled by on their way back from trading at the fish market. More food they wouldn’t be eating.

“Should we get changed soon?”

Lucy nodded. “We’ve made good time. We should get there an hour late, which is standard.”

“Rich people are weird,” Natsu said. “Why not just go on time?”

“It’s not fashionable,” Lucy said.

“What’s so fashionable about being late?”

“It’s just the culture,” Lucy said.

“Huh. Weird.”

“Natsu! Lucy!” Happy called. “How about over here?” He’d found a quaint alley behind a high-class restaurant. The restaurant was closed and nobody was around, so it was the perfect place for some privacy while they changed into their aristocratic disguises.

Happy posted himself at the alley entrance to keep watch while the two of them changed into the clothes Lucy had stolen for them.

“I’ll be over here,” Lucy said, making her way to a small alcove. “I’ll come out when I’m finished.”

“Uh…Lucy?” Natsu held the suit out in front of him like it was a ticking bomb. He had no idea how to handle this sort of clothing. Not only had he never worn a suit, but he hadn’t worn _anything_ besides his usual pants and coat for years. He just washed it whenever it got dirty and had someone sew it up if it got torn. But now he had to wear a suit. Of all things, a suit.

Lucy sighed. “Open the Gate of the Lion, Leo.”

In a flash of light, Loke appeared. “I’ll help you out, idiot,” Loke said, approaching Natsu.

“Hey, watch it!”

“Good luck,” Lucy said, disappearing into the alcove with a giggle.

“Dammit,” Natsu grumbled. “I don’t want any help from you.”

“Say what you want, but you need my help, don’t you? I know more about menswear than you do.”

“It’s just rich people clothes,” Natsu said.

“It’s classy attire that you’ve probably never worn in your life. You need my help.”

Natsu wasn’t happy about it, but he let Loke fuss over him, for about ten seconds. Then it devolved into arguing over whether the pants were too long and complaining about how stiff the shirt looked and “I’m not a child. I can dress myself, dammit.”

They were still arguing when Lucy returned from the alcove looking completely different from when she had gone in.

She wore a sugary pink confection of a dress with a skirt that moved like water and a lace bosom. The material of her sleeves was as thin and transparent as the layers that made up her skirt, and they were tied on with dark satin ribbons in neat bows. Lucy had piled her hair on the top of her head in an elegant bun, with a single lock of blonde hair framing each side of her face. She looked every inch an aristocrat.

Natsu, meanwhile, was standing half-undressed in the middle of the alley, wearing only the suit pants, gaping at the beautiful vision that was Lucy.

Lucy pouted. “Stop staring and hurry up. I thought you’d be dressed by now, but all I hear is you two arguing.”

“I…yeah.”

She let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Just hurry up and listen to Loke. He knows what he’s doing.”

Natsu quickly nodded. Lucy disappeared again to give Natsu privacy while he changed, and maybe to help him save face as he let Loke dress him like a child.

Who told Lucy she could be that beautiful? She was always lovely, but seeing her dressed like that was a first, and Natsu wasn’t sure how to handle it. This was a different side of Lucy, one he was doomed to fall for just as hard as he already had for her usual self.

When Loke was finished dressing Natsu, he pressed a finger to Natsu’s chest. “I don’t care if you’re player her husband for a night; you lay a finger on Lucy and you’re dead meat, understand?”

“Why would I hurt Lucy?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m not gonna ‘lay a finger on her.’ Don’t worry.”

Loke took a step back and nodded. “You mess up this mission and you’re dead, too.”

“Lucy! Natsu’s done changing!” Happy called helpfully from the alley entrance.

“Thank the gods,” Lucy said, coming back out of the alcove. “Will you two ever stop arguing? Loke, thank you. You can go back now.”

“Good luck,” he said, disappearing back to the Celestial Spirit World with one last hard look at Natsu.

“Thanks for keeping watch. You should go back to the hotel room and make sure nothing gets stolen,” Lucy said to Happy. “We can take it from here.”

“Aye, sir!” Happy said.

“Stay out of trouble until we get back.”

“If we’re not back before midnight, take our things into the woods in case we got caught and they come to search the room,” Natsu said.

“And if something _really_ bad happens, try to find the others and let them know we had a mishap. Just keep yourself safe. Okay?” Lucy added.

“Aye, sir,” Happy said. “Don’t mess this up, Natsu.” And with that, he sprinted away like the cat he was.

“Why only me? Why not Lucy?” Natsu whined. Two in a row. Why did everything think he was going to mess up?

Well, maybe they weren’t entirely wrong. If he managed to follow Lucy’s lead, maybe they’d be okay. That was _if_ he managed to keep himself from breaking anything. He’d gotten himself on wanted posters many times, usually due to accidental damage to private property during a fight, but damaging the palace would get him branded an enemy of the state. Lucy seemed to be handling such a label just fine, but it’d put a serious damper on Natsu’s flexibility when traveling. And then how would he find Igneel?

Until they got started, it was all speculation. Natsu straightened his sleeves and met Lucy’s determined gaze.

_Let’s do this._


	15. Chapter 15

Natsu and Lucy stood across the street from the side entrance to the palace. Elegant palanquins and carriages passed by, dropping off their high-class passengers. It was hard to believe that this many people worked under Tartarus. But once they got in there and started asking around, they would surely be able to confirm their suspicions that the Chief Advisor was one of the main Tartarus underlings. From there, they could investigate into his movements, which would hopefully lead them back to Tartarus itself.

He let Lucy fix him up, straightening his tie and adjusting his cufflinks. She, of course, looked naturally immaculate in her long pink gown. She wasn't even wearing a girdle under it, like she said all the other women would be, and she still fit into it with no problem. Meanwhile Natsu felt like he was about to die in his stolen suit.

Lucy's fingers paused, then dropped down to her sides. "Natsu, I…before we go into this, I need to come clean about something."

Natsu looked at her. He already had a general idea of her background, so he knew this was the sort of thing she used to do when she was younger. He only hoped it didn't bring back too many bad memories. If any of those sleazy men she had to host were at the party, he'd probably punch them in the face.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you about my origins," Lucy said. "It's not that I lied about everything, but I withheld some pretty important information. Please understand that I was just trying to protect myself."

Natsu frowned. "What is it?"

Lucy's eyes glistened with moisture, meeting his eyes for a moment before her eyelashes dipped down to brush against her cheeks. Her fingers twined together.

"You see," she said, "I'm not just any girl from a high-class family. My— My full name is Lucy Heartfilia."

Natsu's eyes widened. He knew that name. He knew of the Heartfilias.

Lucy's gaze met his again, uncertainty and fear etched across her face. "I haven't actually been wiped from the family records. My father sends out just enough false reports that nobody knows I'm missing. He does it to save face, but it's the only reason I've managed to evade capture until now; nobody knows to look for me."

"Lucy," Natsu said, slowly. "Lucy, you're—"

"—the princess," Lucy finished, nodding. She stood, then dipped into a low curtsey, the poufy pink skirt of her gown fanning out around her. "Princess Lucy Heartfilia of the Fiore Kingdom." She looked up, smiling in a way that didn't reach her eyes. "It has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Natsu felt like his brain was trembling. The signs had all been there, in retrospect, but even with the truth coming from her own lips, he could hardly believe it. "Oi, Lucy, you're joking, right?"

She didn't say anything. She just stepped back, her eyes not meeting his.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" he asked. Like, you know, when they weren't about to crash a party in the royal castle.

"Well, at first it was because I wasn't sure how much I could trust you guys to keep my secret," she said. "Makarov knew right away, but the more people that know, the more likely it is for the secret to get out. And then, after that," — she paused to gnaw on her fingernail — "it's not an easy thing for me to talk about. I've never told anyone before. For a while it wasn't necessary, it wouldn't be fair to you if we went into this without you knowing exactly who I am. Just in case."

"In case someone recognizes you?"

"I was always heavily made up, so they shouldn't recognize my face, especially with this wig," she said, twirling a curly lock of brown hair around her forefinger. "But that councilman, the one we saw back at that mansion when we first met, he should know I'm missing. Most just assume I went into seclusion to study and wouldn't think of the princess being in disguise, but he and probably a few others know the truth. So there's that chance they'll recognize me."

"What'd you look like as a princess?"

Lucy breathed out her nose in something that sounded like a laugh. "I can't show you that now, Natsu."

"Oh. Right."

"I was a lot younger, for one. I ran away when I was 12."

Natsu smiled. "I want to see little Lucy," he said.

"You might be able to, if there are any portraits around," Lucy said. "But I hope not. It's embarrassing."

Nastu nudged her with his shoulder, teasing mode activated. "Lucy's being shy," he drawled.

"I'm not being shy," Lucy snapped. "If you want shy, just wait until you get into this party. You won't even know how to act."

"I just act normal, right?"

Lucy wagged her finger. "The upper classes have a very strict social etiquette. You're completely out of your league."

"I can adapt," Natsu defended, but he knew she was right. He was hopeless in social situations even among normal people, and he had no idea how to even do a proper bow. But he wouldn't let his pride be injured by such shortcomings. He  _would_  adapt.

Or, so he planned, but Lucy was even more correct than he could have ever imagined. He'd never felt so out-of-place before in his life. Perhaps the stuffy attire Lucy made him wear should've tipped him off, but the entire atmosphere was just so  _reserved_  and  _composed_  and  _stifling_. Honestly, Natsu was starting to feel a little lightheaded. He tugged at his collar.

"Don't do that," Lucy hissed, grabbing his arm. "You'll mess it up."

Awkwardly, Natsu lowered his arm again. Lucy slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, her fingers curling against the stiff fabric of his suit jacket. She began leading them forward, navigating with ease through the crowd. Natsu just followed her lead.

"Remember: you are a little-known lord, a solemn man of few words. Try not to let your goofiness out while I'm talking, okay?"

"Aye, sir," Natsu whispered, making Lucy crack a smile for a brief moment before she recovered that perfect pout that all the women here seemed to be wearing.

"All we have to do is confirm the identity of who's in charge of the whole operation. Just ask someone a few strategic questions, get the right clues, and get out of here. Easy."

"Yeah. Got it."

"Ah, see that man over there with the purple suit?" she said.

Natsu tried to look around discreetly. In the general direction they were walking, a man in a dark purple tuxedo was sipping champagne and speaking to a woman Natsu presumed was his wife. "With the woman in the purple dress?"

"Yes, the one in lilac. That's his wife. That man used to be assistant advisor to the Director of Internal Affairs, who was recently ousted over the demon incidents. He was then promoted to Director himself."

"Sounds like the kind of man we're looking for," Natsu said.

"Exactly. Don't mess this up, okay?"

Natsu scowled. "You keep saying that," he muttered, but they had approached the couple so any further pouting would have to wait. He put on his best apathetic expression. Natsu wasn't any good at acting, so he could only hope his supposedly stoic persona would be convincing.

"Good evening, Sir, Madame," Lucy said, giving the couple a small curtsey. They looked at her, wariness in their eyes. "Excuse my interruption, but could you spare some kindness for two out-of-towners?"

"Why of course," the man said in a gracious tone transparent even to Natsu. This man was putting on airs. "But I must ask how you were invited, since this gathering is for palace officials only."

"Well, for one, we are far from the only people here who are not from the palace," Lucy said, pulling out a frilly fan with a flick of her wrist. "But if you must ask, we are in Crocus on the business of visiting my cousin."

"And who would that be?"

Hesitation briefly flashed in Lucy's eyes, but she continued seamlessly. "Advisor Lucius Mard," she replied.

Natsu did his best not to show surprise on his face. Was she really claiming kinship to the man in charge of this party? That was awfully dangerous.

Lucy continued, "My husband here is such a little-known lord that he is embarrassed of us, to be honest, but he still graciously extended us an invitation."

"I see," the man said. He still looked suspicious, but did not voice any concerns. "And what is it you need to ask us?"

"Oh, nothing too specific," Lucy said, waving her hand. "I am just worried about my cousin is all. I know he has been rather…busy…recently and I wanted to inquire as to his health. I tried asking him myself, but you know how he is." Lucy laughed lightly, and the couple laughed along with her. Natsu forced a smile, not sure what they were laughing about.

"He is indeed stubborn when it comes to his personal life," the man said. "To be honest, I had no idea he had family at all. Nobody knows about his background. I doubt even the king knows."

"Well, I won't compromise his secrets, then," Lucy said. "But please, do tell me how he fares. With all he is doing lately, I cannot help but worry."

"He is healthy," the woman said. "In fact, I have never seen a man healthier than the Chief Advisor."

"Oh, that is a relief," Lucy said.

"It is truly amazing," the man added. "Running a country should take many men, but he does everything himself to the point where I wonder if he even has time to sleep. Every instruction is personally delivered from his mouth. I do not blame you for worrying."

"So you are indeed under his instruction," Lucy observed. "I was not certain, but I am glad I chose the right person to ask my question."

"Director of International Affairs," the man introduced. "Sometimes I think your cousin is trying to take my job, going over my head all the time to speak with the Dowager Queen of Bosco personally. He must have traveled there when he was younger and made her acquaintance."

"He never tells me where he goes," Lucy sighed, fluttering her fan again.

"He is truly a private man."

"Indeed."

"Ah, excuse me. My assistant just arrived and I need to speak with him. Helena, come." The couple bowed farewell, and Natsu mimicked the gesture. Then they made their way to the entrance to greet a couple that had just come in through the grand doors.

Lucy turned to Natsu and smiled. "You did well," she said.

"Really?" All he'd done was stand there and watch Lucy do all the talking.

"Your poker face was excellent," Lucy said. "I surprised you when I said we were the Chief Advisor's cousins, didn't I?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you didn't show it at all. You did well."

"Well of course I did. I told you I can adapt," he boasted.

"Now shh, you're supposed to be stoic."

"Right."

His eyes strayed to the food table. The food was tiny, each item only bite-sized, but maybe it was supposed to be that way. Natsu didn't really see the point. Either way, he could smell it from here and it was making him hungry.

"Later," Lucy ordered, noticing the direction of his gaze.

"But Lucy—"

"No. Get back in character."

"Aye, sir…" But then his wandering eyes noticed something else. "Lucy," he said, nudging her.

She was busy folding her fan, but looked up. "What is it?"

"They're talking."

"Who is?"

"The Chief Advisor guy with the guy we just told we were the Chief Advisor's cousins."

Lucy looked to where the men were standing, chatting amiably. They were still all smiles, but Natsu knew their time was about to be cut short.

"Already?" Lucy exclaimed. She brought the fan to her face, covering everything but her eyes. "Damn. I guess he was still suspicious of us after all. Let's hope he doesn't mention us. Move this way."

Natsu let her lead him back through the tables toward the courtyard. If they could get outside, they'd have an easy escape when their identity was compromised.

"What was the point of this, even?" Natsu said. "We didn't find anything out."

"Oh, but we did," Lucy said.

"Like what?"

"The Chief Advisor is pulling the strings. He works alone and gives all orders personally. He has close ties with Bosco's Dowager Queen. Nobody knows who he really is. The king is an unknowing puppet."

"That's not a lot."

"It's more than you may realize. Trust me."

Footsteps echoed behind them, the sound metallic against the tile floor. Those weren't the tap of men's shoes or the clack of women's heels. Armed guards were on the move.

Lucy heard them too. "This way," she whispered, nudging him gently to the left. He turned, and they passed through an arched doorway into a long hall. Lucy suddenly stopped and bent down, then straightened up, shoes in hand. "Now  _run_."

Natsu sprinted down the hallway at Lucy's heels. He grabbed her shoes from her so she could lift her skirts and run even faster. The shouting of guards behind them only fueled them to run faster down the marbled hall.

"There are guards behind the door at the end of the hall," Lucy said. "Take them out, then follow me."

"Why only me?"

"Because I'm the one who knows where we're going. You just follow. Got it?"

"Aye, sir."

Lucy slammed through the huge wooden doors, causing shouts on the other side. She ran through while Natsu skidded to a halt, sending the guards flying with a few well-aimed kicks. Then he blindly ran after her scent that lingered fresh in the air, following her up a stairway and around a corner to another long hallway.

Just how big was this place, anyway? Every ceiling was spacious and curved, carved with intricate patterns in marble and gold. The sound of footsteps echoed loudly around them as they passed door after door, guard after guard that Natsu knocked down, maid after terrified maid. But still Lucy pressed on. Natsu was completely lost, but she ran forward with certainty toward whatever their destination was.

That destination apparently involved climbing through a certain vent. "Guards don't know this place," Lucy explained as she shimmied up a tall vertical shaft, Natsu trying to follow her without looking up and accidentally getting a view of her panties.

"Why couldn't we go into the vents earlier?" he asked. They'd passed a lot of grated openings in the floorboards on their way to the one they'd entered.

"This one isn't in use anymore," Lucy said. "You can tell because it was a hidden panel rather than a grate; they just covered up where the grate used to be. The other end of this is blocked. Or, they think it is. You'll see."

Somewhere in the middle of their climbing, Lucy stopped and braced herself against the sides so she could fiddle with something. Then there was a small creaking noise and suddenly light shone into the shaft. Natsu squinted and followed Lucy through a hole she'd made in the side.

When he crawled out from the wooden dresser hiding the hole in the wall, he found himself in a quiet room decorated with frilly pink satin and lace. The walls were inlaid with silver and jade and all sorts of blue and turquoise stones that shimmered in the dim moonlight that filtered through the arched window that took up an entire wall. And on the wall opposite the bed hung a large banner embroidered with the royal crest in colors of pink and gold.

Natsu dusted himself off and looked at Lucy. She was standing by the vanity, fingers tracing over the grains of the dark wood.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"This is my room," Lucy said. "Or, it was when I still lived in the palace. The guards who were chasing us won't think to look here; as far as the regular guards are concerned, I am currently abroad in Bosco studying Boscan culture from their Princess. This room is empty."

"It's…" He looked around at the spacious walls, the tall ceiling, the bed bigger than even the two-person tents Erza carried. "…big."

Lucy laughed. "Well, I was royalty, after all. Only the best for their precious princess."

"It does explain a lot," Natsu said.

"What does?"

"You being a princess. Your aura is different. Must be something in the way you carry yourself leftover from being a royal."

"Maybe," Lucy said. "Am I really that different from everyone else?"

Natsu opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he heard footsteps outside the door. There was only one pair of feet, and the sound was too muted for it to be one of the steel-booted guards. A maid, most likely. There wasn't so much as a speck of dust on the furniture despite the room being unused; it was obviously being cleaned regularly. Just their luck that a maid would come now of all times.

He and Lucy held their breaths, eyes locked.  _Please leave, please leave,_  Natsu willed at the person on the other side.

But the handle rattled and the door creaked open. Caught.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning
> 
> Not to spoil anything, but there's some discussion of abuse, pedophilia, and childhood sexual assault. It starts here: "They both lay face-up, staring at the patterned ceiling." And it ends before the line break. So, after the line break is fine. It's briefly referred to in one of the paragraphs near the end so you can get the gist.

"Miss Heartfilia."

Lucy flinched as if struck, eyes wide with shock. Seeing her reaction, Natsu jumped to his feet, ready to fight whomever it was.

In the open doorway was a tall blonde man with slicked-back hair and a moustache. His attired was extravagant, even more so than all the councilmen they'd encountered so far. A red fur-lined cape draped over his shoulders and brushed against the floor.

"What do you want?" Natsu demanded, hands open, ready to burst into flame if needed. It was obviously someone whose voice Lucy recognized, and not in a good way.

The man ignored Natsu, instead keeping his gaze trained on Lucy. "Miss Heartfilia. How kind of you to return home."

Lucy's eyes flashed with anger. "And whose fault is it that I left in the first place?" she said, voice seeped in venom.

The situation was beginning to dawn on Natsu. "Is this the king?" he asked, looking between the man and Lucy.

The question only earned Natsu a glare from the intruder. "You are irrelevant here, boy."

"That is not for you to decide," Lucy said, standing up. "So you know I'm here. What is it that you want?"

"I am simply welcoming my daughter home after a long absence."

"You and I both know that's bullshit."

He clicked his tongue. "Language, Lucy. You have been away too long; I know you were taught better than this."

"I'm hardly planning to stay," Lucy said.

The king's eyes narrowed. "And what makes you think you can leave?"

Lucy glared. "You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't what?" Natsu asked. He turned to the king. "What did you do?" he growled. By the look on Lucy's face, she knew something was up, and Natsu wasn't sure he wanted to find out what it was. If even the Celestial Spirit was concerned, there might be a real problem.

Again, Natsu was ignored. "Do not even think of leaving. I will summon you at some point. We need to have a little talk. Be ready for it." With that, he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

"Hey," Natsu shouted, running after him.

"Natsu!"

He stopped.

"Don't leave."

Natsu whipped around to look at her. "Dammit, Lucy. You mean you're actually going to listen to him?"

"No. Look, Natsu. Running away the first time was hard enough; it's going to be even harder now that he knows I'm a flight risk. Plus I have you in tow."

"I'm not a liability," Natsu said.

"True; in some ways, you're an asset. But one person can sneak around more easily than two."

"So he's got a lot of guards. So what?"

"They're mages."

Natsu plopped himself down on the floor. "Wait. For real?" He thought the government hated mages; after all, they'd been the ones to ban mage guilds and made use of magic a despised art form.

Lucy sighed and sat down across from him. "Now that you know my big secret, there's a lot of other things I need to tell you, too."

"Apparently," Natsu said. "So? What is it?"

"It's kind of a long story," Lucy said, "but I guess we've got plenty of time before my father comes around again. Probably days. We'll have to figure something out before that happens. Observing guard routines, planning— I'm getting sidetracked. What was I going to tell you about again?"

"I don't know. You said it was a long story."

"Ah. I think it was about mages, right?"

"Yeah. The guards are mages. But I thought the government hated mages."

"The government, yes, and especially my father. See, Mom was a mage."

"So you got your magic from her?"

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know. I don't even know what kind of mage she was. I guess she did pass down a capacity for magic, but I couldn't use any until I met Plue. I should tell you more about that story sometime, too."

"How'd you know she was a mage, then?" Natsu said. He was raised with magic, thanks to Igneel, so he couldn't imagine having a magical parent not teach their child magic. Parental figures were whom you learned your magic from. Period. It was like that for most of the people at Fairy Tail.

"I only know Mom was a mage because of my father's hatred for mages. When Mom died early, he…well, I was so young that I can hardly remember if he was like this before she died or not, but in any case her death made it worse. You saw how he was just now, right?"

Natsu nodded.

"He's cold and strict. And after Mom died, he didn't want me to learn magic. That's actually a major reason why mage guilds were banned; if magic were frowned upon in the kingdom as a whole, there would be no one to teach me how to use magic for myself."

"Then why the guards?"

"Because even if I wasn't taught, there was still that chance I would somehow learn how to use magic on my own. It didn't happen, but just in case, Father selected a few elite mages to secretly work as palace guards. They were among the best before the ban, so I know they're powerful. It will be hard to fight them all off at once, let alone evade their notice. It happened once, so now they know better."

"Hmm…." Natsu rested an elbow on his other arm and cupped his chin in his hand to think. Lucy knew the palace well from her time here as a child, and if she said it would be hard to evade them, she was probably right. But she'd managed to escape once, so she could do it again with his help.

"I don't know all of their abilities," Lucy added. "And it's been so long that even if I remembered their guard posts and routines, they probably changed them now that I'm back. We'll have to be quiet for a few days and observe them so we can figure out the right strategy."

"How many days exactly? Your dad said he was coming back for you at some point."

"Yes. We will have to escape before then. I'd give us about a week; once he makes an appointment he keeps it for sure, but I am never a priority so it will be several days before he makes the time to see me. Honestly, I'm surprised he even came in person just now."

"There will probably be more surprises," Natsu said.

Lucy deflated. "Yeah. I'm just trying to be optimistic."

"No, you said a lot. Thanks for telling me." He flashed her his signature grin, and she smiled meekly back.

"By the way, will Happy be okay?"

Natsu grimaced. "This is just like when we first met. Something happens and I end up leaving him behind."

"Well, this time it was my fault."

Natsu pouted and put his hands behind his head. "Are you saying it was my fault last time?"

"Are  _you_  saying it was  _mine_?"

"Yes."

Lucy laughed a little. "Typical Natsu," she said.

Natsu stood up suddenly. The fact that she already found him predictable after the few weeks they'd known each other was embarrassing somehow.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna try the door," Natsu said.

"The guards might—"

"I can feel magic around us already. You can too, right?"

Lucy bit her lip. "A little," she admitted. "It might be a magic barrier. I've been inside one before and it felt like this. It's been here since my father left. That's the other reason I stopped you; trying to pass through one is dangerous."

Natsu had never been within a magic barrier before, but he did feel the hint of magic in the air, a vague shimmery sense of  _something_  that wasn't quite right. Whatever this magic barrier was, he didn't like it. It made him feel…trapped.

"You can try the door, I guess, but…be careful," Lucy said.

"Okay."

The door handle was huge and looked like brass but was probably actually made of gold considering their location. It was carved with the intricate floral motifs Natsu noticed also decorated the rest of the room. Was the whole palace like this? He didn't remember; he hadn't been paying much attention to the architecture before, other than noticing how fancy it was.

He reached forward to grasp the handle. But before he could even touch it, something zapped his hand.

"Ow," he complained, shaking it off. There had been a short flash of light when his hand hit whatever invisible barrier was there. He reached forward again to test its exact limits.

There was an invisible wall made of strange runes before him, and it glowed green to the touch. He wanted to bust through it, but he recalled Freed having a similar magic that was not to be messed with. And if he tried breaking it with fire and it didn't work, Lucy would get hurt in the backfire, not to mention the actual  _room_  would probably burst into flames as well.

He looked back at her. Yeah, not worth risking it. The fact that she was his friend and ally was enough reason for him to be cautious, but now that he knew she was the princess, he also had more practical reasons to want to protect her. Such as an entire army coming after him for harming a royal body.

"I'll figure it out," Lucy said. "We both will. It'll take time, though. And patience." She said that last word with a pointed look at Natsu.

"I can be patient," he said.

"Good. Because I think we should turn in for the night."

Natsu blinked. "Already?" It was sunset not too long ago; the night was still young, and they had to figure a way out of here.

"Natsu, I hardly got any sleep tailoring these outfits for tonight. Being back here is kind of sudden and I can't remember everything all at once. I…I'm trying to be calm and collected, but my mind is a mess right now. Let's go to bed early and we can figure it out in the morning. Father won't be back for me so soon."

Natsu hesitated, but ultimately complied. He was feeling a little sleepy now that his adrenaline high was fading, and now that she mentioned it, Lucy  _did_  look extra tired. There were bags under her eyes that weren't usually there even when they spent all day hiking through forests.

"Okay. If you need rest, then now would be a good time, before we attempt any escape plans."

She smiled. "Thanks. Natsu, how about you sleep on the—"

Natsu put a hand up to stop her. "Don't worry. I know. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Oh, no, I was about to say that we can share."

"The floor?"

"No, idiot. The bed!"

"Are you sure?"

Lucy nodded. "It's certainly big enough. Or would you rather not?"

"I don't mind," Natsu said. He more than didn't mind. It was hard to stop the smile from spreading across his face, but he somehow managed. He didn't want Lucy to think he was creepy.

Natsu crawled under the blankets and lay stiffly as Lucy got in the other side. The bed was actually really, really comfortable. It was soft and fluffy and warm, like he imagined sunlit clouds to be. But sharing a bed with Lucy for the first time, he was nervous. It was Lucy, after all. As much as he felt comfortable being with her in general, he was hyperaware of her proximity.

With a pang, Natsu noticed that she seemed awfully relaxed about this whole thing. It's almost like she wasn't aware of him at all.

Also, why wasn't her dad concerned with leaving her alone in her bedroom with a boy? Adults usually didn't care about girls being with girls for whatever reason, but a girl with a boy always seemed to set people off.

They both lay face-up, staring at the patterned ceiling. Natsu was just about to fall asleep when Lucy broke the silence.

"The last time someone else was on this bed," she said, "it wasn't this quiet."

Natsu looked at her. In the darkness, her face was unreadable.

"You're wondering whom I shared it with," she stated.

"Well, yeah," Natsu said. "You look all serious, so it must be important. Your mom?"

"Maybe when I was little, before she died. I don't remember her, though."

"Ex-boyfriend, then?"

There was a long silence.

"Was…I right?"

"No." Her voice was quiet and controlled, but through the vibrations in the mattress Natsu realized she was starting to tremble.

Oh.  _Oh._

"Shit. Fuck. I'm sorry. I can sleep on the floor if—"

"That's not why I'm telling you this," Lucy said. "If we're going to be partners, you should know the full truth about me. I trust you. So I need to tell this story."

Natsu didn't know what to say.

"It was the trigger for me running away. When I say I had to entertain my father's allies, I mostly mean that I served them tea and cookies and talked to them for a while. But this guy…he was nice like the rest of them, but looks can be deceiving."

"Who was he?"

"It doesn't matter," Lucy said.

"No, it does matter," Natsu pressed. "I'm not  _that_  dense. I know what you've implied. And if it's one of the people we encountered here..." Well, he'd tear that person apart first of all, but he'd also want to protect her from him. So he wouldn't accidentally say or do something awful.

"He was a business tycoon from Clover," Lucy said slowly. "My father used his funding for political purposes, and he came to the palace often for negotiations. I entertained him as I usually did. But I soon learned that he had asked my father for my hand in marriage."

"How old were you?"

"12. Needless to say, I was terrified. He tried to talk to me, my fiancé did, and he almost…well, he assaulted me here in my room. He stopped because one of my servants heard the commotion and knocked to ask if everything was all right. He wasn't a stupid man; 'deflowering' the child princess before marriage could get him killed. So nothing worse happened, but I was shaken. Once I became his wife, he could do whatever he wanted without repercussions, regardless of my age."

"So you ran away."

"Yes. I refused to become married to such a man, especially so young. As naïve as I was, even I knew that it was wrong."

"Did your father find out? About him attacking you."

"Probably. The servants always tell him everything."

"And he didn't do anything?"

Lucy clenched the sheets below her. "No. He did nothing. My well-being was never a priority for him; after all, he was the one who was about to sell his preteen daughter to a pedophile."

"That…" —he struggled to find a word— "…sucks."

Something like a laugh escaped her throat. "Putting it lightly, yes. He'd always been neglectful, but that was the last straw. Thus I ran away, and the rest is history."

Natsu was about to speak again, but Lucy turned to look at him, hands tucked under her head. The expression in her eyes stopped Natsu short. He couldn't place the emotion in this dim moonlight, but he knew that he wasn't supposed to speak. He waited.

When Lucy finally spoke, he wasn't prepared for the words that left her mouth: "I killed him."

Natsu's jaw opened. "What?"

"That was the first thing I did with my new magic, months before I became the Celestial Spirit. I went to Clover and killed that man."

That was…surprising, somehow. Natsu couldn't see Lucy killing anyone. But then again, she had a furious gleam in her eyes during battles, so maybe it wasn't that unlikely after all. It was one of the things he liked about her, her ferocity. He never imagined how deep it ran.

"My spirits weren't involved, of course. I strangled him in his sleep with the whip." She laughed a little and looked back up at the ceiling. "Some days, it's hard to convince myself that the whole thing wasn't my fault," she said. "After all, even when he tried to assault me, I didn't fight back. I didn't protest. I vocalized my opposition to getting married, but one stern look from my father and I was cowed into submission. But I was only 12, and I was scared and helpless. Well, he's dead now. And I have more important things to do, like saving the world and all that."

"You're…strong," Natsu said. He knew there were better things he should be saying, but those were the only words that didn't choke in the back of his throat.

"Not really."

"No, you're really strong."

"I'm not. After all, I killed the guy because I was too weak to handle his existence. But Natsu…"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Listening, I guess. You know I've been alone all this time, so you're the first person to hear my story other than my spirits. And being back here brought up some memories, so I'm glad I got it off my chest."

"Of course," Natsu said. "Thanks for trusting me." And maybe someday he'd be able to tell her about his own trauma. But he wasn't sure he was ready for that quite yet.

"So, now you know the real origins of the Celestial Spirit. How's that for a tragic backstory?" She grinned, and Natsu smiled back. Her eyes were glistening, but there were no tears on her cheeks.

"Let's sleep now," Natsu said. He wasn't actually tired anymore, but Lucy looked exhausted.

"It was a long day," Lucy agreed. "Goodnight, Natsu."

"'Night."

 

He woke up sprawled flat on his back like a starfish, Lucy curled up against his torso, somehow having stolen all the blankets so she was wrapped up like a little cocoon stuck to his side. Well this was awkward.

He tried to move, but anything he did would disturb Lucy and he wanted to let her rest a little more. He wasn't great at planning or long-term strategy, so she'd be doing most of the work trying to figure out the magic barrier. He would help, of course, but the strategic part of his brain only seemed to kick in during immediate emergencies. This was an emergency, but it wasn't immediate. Lucy would be the one to get the two of them out of this mess.

There was also the issue of what he heard last night. He'd said it before, but Lucy really did fit right in at Fairy Tail. Almost all of the members his age had tragic childhoods, to the point where it was almost comical. Erza was one of few survivors from a camp for child slave labor. Gray saw his entire village massacred by Deliora. Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel were all orphans raised by dragons only to be abandoned again. And Lucy was neglected by her father and almost became a child bride. They all had blood on their hands.

 _She fits right in,_ he though, only half sarcastically. Now all she needed was the mark.

Natsu put a hand on his upper arm where his own guildmark used to be before the ban. It was still there somewhere, but Makarov had rendered all Fairy Tail marks invisible so members could live out normal lives without having to leave the guild. His used to be red, the same color as Igneel. Now the only thing there was his skin, the color of sea-soaked sand.

Lucy stirred, and he took the chance to move himself over a few inches so she wasn't leaning on him. She mumbled something incoherent and reached out to the warm space he left behind, but didn't awaken.

Dappled sunlight filtered through the large window. Natsu swung his feet off the side of the bed, found footing, and stood up to wander toward the light. There was a balcony outside, and a large tree growing beside it. It would be perfect to climb down, except for the feet on a tree branch that quickly disappeared after Natsu's eyes caught them. The guards were out there for sure. They were watching.

Scowling at the hidden person in the tree, he turned his eyes back to the horizon to watch the sunrise. The sky was so colorful and so clear, he wished he could be with Igneel again and ride on his back, laughing and doing flips like they always did. Instead he was trapped inside this magic barrier that didn't even let him open the window to breathe in the fresh air.

It was stifling. Even more so than the itchy suit he still wore, not having any clothes to change into. There was nothing to be done about it except to move forward. He just wanted to get out of here, and soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who skipped, she later killed her would-be-husband after she learned magic, and after that is when she decided to become a vigilante. Getting rid of bad guys, but with less murder this time around.


	17. Chapter 17

In the morning, Natsu held his hand painfully against the barrier while Lucy read the runes.

“Looking at the script, this barrier seems fairly standard. I might be able to decode it,” Lucy said. “I was worried, because I’m not a script mage like Levy, but I recognize a few of these characters. If I work on it, I should be able to decipher them. The only problem is the spies outside.”

Natsu glanced toward the window, curtains fully open and behind the barrier so he and Lucy couldn’t close them.

“They got lucky with those curtains being open,” he said.

“No, I think they knew I would run here,” Lucy said. “Someone must have spotted me at the party even before the Chief Advisor had us chased out, and told the king I was around.” She sighed. “I should’ve known something was wrong when I saw the curtains open. There is no way they would hire a maid so foolish as to leave curtains open in an unused room like this. It would fade the colors on the walls and drapery. They are very particular about these things.”

“So what do we do? It’s open, so they can see what we’re doing.”

Lucy bit her lip in thought. “For now, I’ll do some reading. The books I learned magic from are still in the Celestial Spirit World, so I can brush up on my script magic before I attempt to rewrite it. You…figure out something to do while you keep an eye outside. I told you about my bodyguards already, right?”

Natsu nodded. “The people from Sabertooth. I’ve got a dragon slayer’s eyes; if they can see me, I can see them.”

“Good. I’m not sure if it’s the same people or not,” Lucy said. “It’ll be good to know whom we’re up against, even if two of them are dragon slayers.”

“I’m stronger than both of ‘em combined,” Natsu said. “If it is them, getting outta here will be a piece of cake.”

Lucy smiled. “Good to hear. I’ll get started then. Maybe we’ll even be out of here by tonight, if I can figure out a way to deconstruct the barrier without them noticing.”

“Good luck,” Natsu said.

“Thanks.”

 

Natsu was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Bored.

Yeah, those were the former Sabertooth mages outside. He’d seen them when they switched shifts; a blonde and a black head were visible for just a moment: the twin dragon slayers Natsu had heard so much about before they disappeared during the ban.

So the guards were the same people who had protected Lucy in her childhood. Apparently one of them, called Yukino, was a celestial mage like Lucy.

“But,” Lucy said, spinning her key ring around her finger, “she doesn’t have any golden keys. After I was chosen by Plue to bear the keys, she willingly gave up the two she had. I don’t think she knew at the time that I was the Celestial Spirit, just that Plue appeared before her and asked for her to give them to me.”

“Plue can talk?” Natsu said, looking at the wolf curled up around Lucy’s back like a living cushion. It stared back.

Lucy laughed as if it were a ridiculous assumption. “No, no, he can only growl a bit. But he has a way of communicating even without words, right?”

Well, Natsu couldn’t argue with that. The animal’s eyes were remarkably intelligent and reminded Natsu a bit of Happy. The differences, of course, were the species and the fact that Happy was a manmade creature. Also that Plue came from an entirely different dimension.

“We can talk more later,” Lucy said. “I’m almost finished this section.” The huge book in her lap was filled with words in a rune alphabet Natsu couldn’t read, the same one that made up the barrier script. Lucy had quietly requested the books from Gemini, since they were small enough to hide from view. They were going to return for the books before sundown, and Lucy had spent the past several hours absorbing as much of the text as she could.

And it would probably be a while longer before she was done. And then after that she’d be working on decoding the rune structure. All while Natsu was sitting around bored and useless in this situation.

Ugh.

 

Nighttime.

“Lucy, go to sleep.” He almost said “come to bed” but that felt a little too awkward. They were sharing a bed, but that didn’t mean they had to start sounding like a married couple.

“But I’m almost—”

“Lucy.”

“I’m not even that—”

“You look terrible. The bags under your eyes could carry Erza’s luggage.”

“That’s rude.”

“You’ve been using up all your energy activating the barrier to read it. It’d be annoying if you collapse from exhaustion while we’re trying to escape.”

She pulled her hand away from the barrier, a disgruntled pout on her lips. “If we don’t get out of here before Father comes back, it’s your fault.”

“And whose bad lying got us in this situation in the first place?”

“Shut up.”

 

Day three of their imprisonment in Lucy’s room.

Natsu was used to going without showers and changes of clothes, but the thin white fabric of his dress shirt seemed to be radiating odors of its own. He felt gross and sticky all over; they couldn’t even open the windows to let a little air in, so the room was stifling. But no matter how he moaned and complained, Lucy wouldn’t let him strip down. Something about modesty. Meanwhile she was using the dress’s undergarments as a nightgown, so really she was just being a hypocrite.

He was in the middle of making rude faces at her while she studied the runes when Lucy suddenly gasped. “What the hell?” she blurted, then covered her mouth in a panic.

Natsu held in his laughter. “Nobody cares if you curse,” he said.

“Well I care,” Lucy huffed, lowering her hands.

“What is it?”

“These runes,” she said. “They’ve changed since yesterday.”

“Is that good or bad?”

She glanced nervously at the window and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Good, I think. Look, there’s this.” She pressed her hand to the barrier, revealing the script it was made of. She pointed to a series of runes. “See?”

“I can’t read them, Lucy.”

“This word is your name. ‘Natsu.” There’s a note addressed to you.”

“What?”

“It says, ‘Good to see you alive. At midnight, the barrier will disappear. Escape then. Good luck. Freed.’”

Natsu looked at her sharply. Was she for real? Was she saying that Freed had come here?

“So you know this Freed person?” Lucy said, watching his reaction.

“Freed’s one of us,” Natsu said. “Remember Mira talking about her boyfriends?”

“Oh! Right! Freed is one of the Raijinshuu! Are they working with the palace then? I thought they were still freelancing.”

Natsu frowned. “Mira never said anything about them being with the government.”

“But they had to be on-call; we were only in the palace for half an hour before coming to this room, and they had the barrier set up beforehand as a trap.”

“This makes a lot more sense than them knowing for sure we’d come here,” Natsu said. “Freed can really crank out those runes; I’ve seen him set up a dozen in the span of an hour. He could put barriers at multiple escape points before we even started getting chased.”

“I guess he realized you were trapped in here with me and is letting us escape.”

“If they noticed you can read the runes, they probably told him to do something about it, and he left a note instead. They underestimate Fairy Tail family loyalty.”

“Whatever happened, if his note is true, then we have until midnight. We can use the element of surprise to escape. I’m going to describe our escape route verbally, so listen carefully, okay?”

 

After memorizing Lucy’s instructions, Natsu’d thrown a few things around to give off the impression that whatever plans they’d been making were ruined. Whether Freed’s tampering with the barrier was allowed by the guards or not, they need to appear frustrated just in case. With a silencing clause in the runes not allowing them to be heard by anyone outside, as long as they _looked_ frustrated and hopeless, their guards had no way of knowing otherwise. The rule to keep people from finding out of Natsu and Lucy’s presence here would be their enemies’ undoing.

As the sun set, Lucy cross-checked the time on her grandfather clock with Horologium so they knew exactly when midnight would fall. Then all they had to do was lie in bed and wait.

“Why’d you only want me along on this trip?” Natsu asked. The question had been buzzing in the back of his mind for several days now. He thought he knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her.

“Well, I knew some masquerading as nobility would be involved, and having a male partner would be best for that, seeing as male-female married couples are the norm. That left you and Gray. And between the two of you, well, I chose you. If anyone found out about who I was, I wanted you to be first; after all, I did lie to you a little back in the beginning.”

“Are you going to tell the others about you being…well…you know…”

“Yeah, I think so,” Lucy said, nodding. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t keep it a secret forever. It’s basically a habit at this point, so I didn’t know how to bring it up, but you’ve given me confidence in your own way.”

“I didn’t even do anything,” Natsu deadpanned.

“You listened to me. You didn’t treat me differently.”

“That’s natural,” Natsu said. “You’re my teammate.”

“Still, there’s something about you that makes me feel reassured. Like I can trust you as a partner.”

“You keep talking about how you think I’m so trustworthy. What’s so great about me anyway?”

Lucy hummed. “Your freedom?”

Natsu’s curiosity instantly waned. Not an answer he wanted to hear.

“It just seems to come naturally to you. You have a goal and nothing can hold you back from it. You’re determined. There’s a bunch of other things, too, but that was what first made me drawn to you, I think.”

Natsu looked at the ground. “I’m not as ‘free’ as that, Lucy,” he said.

“Well, maybe not your freedom then. However, I contend that your confidence and determination are very real. You’re indomitable, and I like that about you.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Just what I’ve been saying; you can’t be beaten.”

Natsu laughed. “Coming from the unbeatable Celestial Spirit, that’s quite a compliment.”

Lucy joined him in laughter. “I could kick your ass any day.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Same. I was happy enough with my spirits, but being with you and the others is even more fun.”

“Especially me,” Natsu joked.

“Yeah,” she said, a teasing tone in her voice contradicting the blush across her cheeks. “Especially you.”

He did his best to ignore the heat that rose to his own face. He was firmly in denial about any feelings he harbored toward her, thank you very much. Of course, being conscious about the denial kind of defeated the purpose of being in denial in the first place, but this was a situation that called for willful ignorance, no matter how unreasonable.

A slender hand reached out to touch him, a smile on her lips. “Your face is red,” she said.

“Yeah, well so’s yours.”

She pulled her hand back to cover her cheeks. “We should pretend to sleep soon. If we keep talking they’ll see us moving and know we’re still awake.”

“Here,” Natsu said, holding out a hand under the covers. He found her arm and pulled it down until he could grip her hand. Lucy was getting bolder with him, and he would do the same.

“Why?” she asked, though she didn’t pull her hand away.

“This way we can signal each other without being seen.”

“I was planning to just poke your side or something.”

“What if you hit my stomach? I’m ticklish, you know.”

A smirk spread across her face. “You are, are you?”

“No. But what if I was?”

“Mhm, I’ll keep that in mind for later.”

“No, really, I’m not ticklish.”

“If you say so,” Lucy sang.

“Wanna try it?”

“Not now. We’re supposed to be falling asleep soon. If I tickle you, you’ll only get hyper.”

“I told you I’m not—”

“You’re not ticklish. Got it.”

Natsu made a mental note to tell her about how ticklish Gray was. He really had only been joking about being ticklish, which Lucy would find out for herself eventually, but he’d love to see that ice block squirm.

“11:32,” Lucy mumbled. Her back was to the window, so she could still talk a little without it being noticeable. In a stroke of luck, the grandfather clock happened to be within her view from that position. Meanwhile Natsu was faced toward the window so he could crack one eye open and see where their watchers were when the time came.

Natsu made a mumbled noise in response to Lucy’s announcement of the time and snuggled his head deeper into the pillow. They had a half hour of pretending to fall asleep before they could even do anything. How annoying.

But he spent a lot of that half hour sleeping apparently, because next thing he knew he was woken up by Lucy’s hand squeezing his.

“One minute,” came her low mumble.

Natsu squeezed her hand back to let her know he heard her.

Lucy tapped out the seconds with her forefinger against the back of his hand. Natsu counted along in his head. 3…2…1…

They leapt out of bed, throwing the covers aside in a mad dash for the window. They simultaneously kicked the glass just as the magical barrier around them dissipated. With the unsettling aura around them gone and fresh air in his lungs, Natsu felt better than he had in days. And he was about to get a good fight to blow off some steam, too.

“On your right,” Natsu shouted in time for Lucy to block a blinding attack from the light dragon slayer who’d been watching them. Natsu himself looked around for the other one, but the second guy was nowhere to be seen. He’d definitely seen two bodies out here…

Then something leapt out from the shadows and Natsu had to duck. “Shit,” he cursed, diving into a roll and coming out with all four limbs aflame. “I’m over here, you dragon bastards!”

“You’re a dragon bastard too, traitor,” the blonde one growled, diverting his attentions from Lucy just long enough for her to call Virgo and Loke. She latched onto Virgo just as the celestial spirit dove into the ground. Natsu and Loke took up position in front of the hole, which was quickly being filled back up again with dirt being kicked back by Virgo.

“Don’t let the princess escape!” the blonde shouted to the black-haired one.

“She’s underground! Where’s Yukino? Call for backup,” the other responded.

“You think we can do that in this situation?”

“Lucy’s not a princess anymore,” Loke said, interrupting the enemy dragon slayers’ argument.

“Yeah,” Natsu said, “she’s part of Fairy Tail now. And you bastards can’t have her!”


	18. Chapter 18

"We can't have her?" the blonde deadpanned. Sting, was it? Natsu's memory of the former Sabertooth dragonslayers' names was fuzzy. "Tell that to the king. Tell that to the Kingdom of Fiore."

Natsu scoffed. "What, you've really become a couple of government dogs, haven't you?"

"Better than a wandering bum," said the one Natsu seemed to remember as Rogue.

"Shut up and fight me," Natsu snarled.

Sting smirked. "Well, that's the idea."

"We'll make this quick," Rogue said quietly. "We still have the princess to chase after, too."

"Oh, it'll be quick all right," Natsu cackled. "Stay out of my way, Loke. Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

The formerly famous Twin Dragon Slayer couple was strong, but not strong enough. In a matter of seconds, Rogue was already wide-eyed and bloody, and Sting was snarling as he cradled his injured arm.

"What, that's all you got?" Natsu taunted.

"Natsu." Loke suddenly stepped into the foray and grabbed Natsu's arm. There was a flash of light and Natsu's vision became a dark blur.

When his vision cleared, the enemy dragon slayers had been replaced by Lucy and Happy, the latter of whom immediately tackled Natsu in a hug.

"I was so worried," Happy cried, rubbing his face all over Natsu's cheeks.

"I missed you too," Natsu said, holding Happy to his chest. He looked up at Lucy. "That was quick. I didn't even get to finish beating them up."

Lucy smiled. "I told you Pyxis would know the exact direction Happy was in. Virgo and I made a straight line here."

"I hid in the woods just like you told me," Happy said. "All our stuff is right here."

"Great! I can finally get out of these clothes," Natsu said, already stripping off his dress shirt, Happy tossed to the side.

"They'll be able to follow the tunnel eventually," Lucy said. "We don't have time to— Oh, whatever, go ahead and change." She turned a little red and faced away from him as Natsu's pants also came off. Natsu just grinned. It was kind of cute how embarrassed she was.

"Too bad we won't be able to return these borrowed clothes," Lucy said, looking down at the wispy white slip she still wore.

"You were gonna return them?" Natsu said.

She gave him a sharp look before turning back around in embarrassment. "Unlike you, I'm not a thief. Well, I try not to be. I can't exactly help it in this situation."

"What happened to you guys anyway?" Happy asked. "It was Natsu's fault you got trapped, right? It's always Natsu's fault."

"Actually it was mine," Lucy said with a laugh. "I was recognized. I'll explain the details later. For now, the most important thing is getting out of here. Once Natsu finishes changing his clothes, that is." She wasn't directly facing him, but Natsu swore she rolled her eyes. Hey, he liked his own clothes. And that dress shirt had been so stuffy.

"I take it you'll be okay from here?" Loke said.

Lucy blinked, seeming to have forgotten Loke's presence. "Yeah, we'll be fine. Thanks, Loke. I know you had to bend the rules a little for me."

"I'm sure the Celestial Spirit King won't mind. I took Natsu through the gates, but it's not like he was in the Celestial Spirit World for long."

"But what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Right, Loke?"

Loke winked. "Correct. Good luck, you two." And with that, he vanished.

"Is taking people through gates illegal or something?" Natsu said, pulling up his pants and securing them with a belt.

"Hmm, I don't know if it's illegal, per se," Lucy said. "It definitely bends the rules a little, though. It would be downright impossible to do without the Celestial Spirit King's permission if I'd asked him to open his own gate. Since I called him with a key, it was instantaneous enough that you were able to slip under the radar a little. I think you did, anyway. I hope Loke doesn't get in trouble."

"I'm sure he's fine," Natsu said quickly, staving off the cloud of worry that was starting to gather on Lucy's brow. "I'm all changed. Let's get going."

Lucy laughed at him a little. "You really did miss your usual clothes, didn't you?"

"He's worn the same ones for years now," Happy said.

"Natsu, that's gross."

"Fireproof clothing is hard to come by," Natsu said.

"Whatever. Let's get going."

"Aye!" Natsu and Happy cheered.

 

Thanks to Happy, they were able to travel quickly into the countryside and then up north toward Oak Town. They were to meet the others in a small nearby village. Natsu was a little worried that the information they gleaned wasn't enough to justify the trip, but Lucy seemed to think it was worth it. And, well, maybe it was, if only for the emotional catharsis Lucy felt at being honest about her past.

By the time they reached their destination, Lucy was feeling better already. Calling three spirits at once had drained her, and she had to be carried by Happy much of the way while Natsu walked. But after their first night on the outskirts of the village, she woke up almost hyper.

"The produce will be so fresh here!" she exclaimed, eyes scanning the vast farmland that surrounded them. They were probably squatting on someone's property at the moment, but as long as they didn't get caught, it was fine.

"It's a little late in the season," Natsu said.

"But pumpkins!"

"Okay."

Lucy pouted. "Your lack of enthusiasm is boring."

"You've been talking about how fresh the produce is for ten minutes now. Can we at least change the subject?"

"Fine. How about this? You can go sniff around and see if any of the others arrived overnight. I'll stay here and keep Happy company."

"All right." Natsu stood up and stretched his legs. "I'll be back soon."

"Good luck."

"No, don't leave me alone with her! She'll talk my ear off!"

"Now, listen here, you stupid cat—"

Natsu left their little camp behind to go into the main part of town. It really was a small village, with only a few shops and a tiny town hall, so checking around wouldn't take long. The smell of something delicious cooking drifted from the town's pub, mixed with something slightly metallic.

Something metallic!

Natsu burst into the pub and laid his eyes immediately on the iron dragon slayer seated inside. "Yo," he said.

Gajeel, Juvia, and Levy looked up.

"Oh, hey, Natsu," Levy said. "Are the others with you?"

"Lucy's with Happy back where we camped last night," Natsu said. "I'm surprised all three of you came." He knew Gajeel and possibly Juvia would come back, but even Levy had returned with them.

"The old man wanted us to investigate in Crocus," Gajeel said. "He thought we might need more people."

"But Lucy and I already did that."

"What?" the three exclaimed.

"Oh. Right. We decided that after you guys left. Lucy wanted to do some stuff in Crocus, so Erza, Gray, and Wendy went to see Ivan."

"What did she want to do in Crocus?" Gajeel said.

Natsu scratched his head. "Uhh, might want to ask Lucy that question. Ain't my story to tell."

"Fair enough," Gajeel said. "We weren't supposed to meet until tomorrow, so we should have plenty of time before the rest get here."

Levy and Juvia forced Natsu to put up with staying at the inn, which he reluctantly accepted. He much preferred roughing it under the stars, but Levy insisted they should all stay together, and they already had a room at the inn. So Natsu was forced to pack up his little camp and lug everything into a hotel room with Gajeel.

"Why's it always split boys and girls?" Natsu complained as he arranged his stuff on his part of the room.

"You're only saying that because you wanna be with Lucy, pervert," Gajeel said.

"Shut up. Any of the girls is better than you."

"Definitely a perv."

"Call me a pervert one more time and I'll melt you down into Erza's new armor."

"Stop saying pervy things then."

Gajeel's ass was saved by Lucy knocking on the door. "Can we come in? We need to talk and regroup."

"If you don't mind repeating it all when Erza's group gets here, sure, let's hear it," Gajeel said.

Lucy laughed. "I don't mind at all."

But two days went by and still no sign of Erza, Gray, and Wendy. On the third day, they were definitely worried.

"Did we get the place wrong?" Lucy fretted. "Erza picked it, but maybe we're reading the map wrong…"

"No, we're definitely in the right place," Levy said. "I must've double checked a hundred times now."

"Juvia is very worried," Juvia said. "Erza, Lord Gray, and Wendy are all very strong, but perhaps something went wrong with Ivan. Juvia thinks we should go check on them."

"But if we leave when they're already on their way here, we might miss them," Levy pointed out. "Erza's trusting us to stay put."

Lucy stood up. "I'm going," she said. "It was my idea that we should split up. If something went wrong, I need to take responsibility."

"It wasn't your decision alone; we all agreed," Nastu said.

"Still, it was my suggestion. I assumed they would be fine on their own. What if I was wrong?"

"Then we were all wrong," Natsu said.

All six of them were frowning. There was no way Erza would mess up the time and place to meet, so that only meant something had gone amiss on their end. Trouble or not, backup couldn't hurt.

"Let's go," Natsu said. "If they get here after we've already left, they'll understand. But helping them if they're in trouble is more important than losing another couple days' time."

"He's got a point," Gajeel said. "I vote we go."

"Me too, I guess," Levy said. "Better safe than sorry."

"Me too," Lucy said.

"Me three," Happy said.

"Then it's settled," Levy said. "I have one more use of this teleportation lacrima, which was supposed to get us all to Crocus, but we'll have to use it now. Let's go pick up those slowpokes so we can do Makarov's mission."

"Do we even need to, though?" Lucy said. "Natsu and I already got the information when we were in the palace."

"At the very least, we need to talk it over with the others. And we can't just go back without them," Levy said.

"I guess we can wait to discuss that for when we're all reunited," Lucy agreed. "So, where's this Ivan guy live?"

Levy had kept a copy of Ivan's address, so they were able to find the location quickly once they got to Oak town. Neither Natsu nor Gajeel could smell their teammates around town, and even in front of Ivan's mansion, there was only a faint trace.

"Have they left already?" Lucy wondered.

"Dammit," Gajeel said. "All this way for nothing."

"I don't know," Levy said. "Maybe it's just because it's Ivan, but this place seems eerily quiet."

"And it smells like fire," Natsu said.

Lucy took a long whiff. "You're right, now that you mention it. Even I can smell it a little. This isn't the smell of normal firewood."

"It's closer to gunpowder," Natsu agreed. "Can't be from a fireplace. But it's not gunpowder either."

"That bastard did something," Gajeel snarled. "I'll kill him."

"Juvia too," Juvia growled. "No one hurts Lord Gray without feeling the pain of Juvia's vengeance."

"We should proceed with caution," Levy said carefully, brows furrowed. "We don't know what happened; we can't just run in recklessly."

"Let's move slowly and stick together," Lucy said. "Got it, Natsu? Nobody rushes ahead."

"I didn't say anything!"

"That's what's most suspicious."

"I'll fly over and look around. You guys come in after," Happy said.

"Aye," Natsu said. "Good luck."

Happy leapt from the ground, looking every inch a normal pouncing cat until wings sprouted from his back and he glided high into the sky.

"What  _is_  Happy, anyway?" Lucy asked.

Natsu turned to her. "You don't know? He's an exceed."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"I thought you'd know this stuff because you're a royal," Gajeel said.

Lucy frowned. "Why, should I?"

"Well, it was the kingdom that commissioned research into genetics to make exotic pets for nobility. You know how they're always importing weird animals from other kingdoms. But it didn't work well, and cats were the only species that were a success. The project was scrapped, but a couple of the eggs got out of the lab. Gramps bought up a few of them so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."

"Huh," Lucy said. "I can't believe I never heard of that before."

"Well, it was apparently all top-secret, so I can't really blame you," Levy said. "Genetic testing really freaks people out, so they pretend the project never existed. We only know about it because of Gramps."

"What kind of connections does the Master even have?" Lucy marveled.

"Nobody knows," Gajeel said. Somehow, it sounded ominous when he put it that way. But his contacts were the reason they knew as much as they did about this whole Tartarus affair, so no matter how he managed to get spies in such high places, for them, it was a good thing.

Gajeel and Juvia were only two of what was probably a huge network of Fairy Tail spies, most of which the regular members couldn't even know about because of how high up they apparently went. To get this level of information, Lucy thought, he must have a contact on the Council itself.

"It's still too quiet," Gajeel said, sniffing the air. "And that weird smell is getting stronger."

"It's not gunpowder, and it's not fire. But it smells similar," Natsu said. He frowned. He didn't like not being able to name a smell, especially one that felt so familiar. It was  _almost_  something he recognized, but not quite. And it was bugging the hell out of him.

"Juvia is getting very worried," Juvia said. "There are no birds. It is too quiet."

"I hope nothing happened," Lucy said.

Natsu crossed his arms. "Erza can handle herself. Wendy and Gray are strong, too. Even if something happened, I'm sure they're fine. I trust them."

Lucy frowned, her eyes trained on the eerie mansion that loomed in their vision as they slowly made their way up the winding driveway. "I hope you're right," she said.


	19. Chapter 19

An explosion rocked the ground they were standing on, turning the air around them into a huge ball of fire. Natsu hurried to protect the others, but Juvia and Levy had already jumped in front, Juvia putting up a wall of water backed by Levy's stone one. Even combined with Gajeel's steel reinforcements, their rushed magic couldn't contain the force of the blast. Natsu sucked up much of the fire, but Juvia and Levy had already borne the brunt of the explosion and were knocked to the dirt. Lucy was on the ground protecting Happy from the force of the blast, and Natsu breathed a sigh of relief knowing his best friend was okay.

"Everyone okay?" Gajeel called, eyes darting around looking for the culprit.

"I'm fine," Natsu said, moving toward Lucy and Happy. "You guys?"

"We're okay," Lucy said, though she sounded as though the breath had been knocked out of her.

"Aye," Happy agreed.

The three of them looked back at Levy and Juvia. They weren't moving. Natsu could faintly see them breathing, which allowed him to relax a little at the reassurance that they were alive, but taking on the full force of the explosion like that had apparently knocked them both unconscious.

"Levy!" Lucy cried, scrambling to get up.

"Oh? You all survived?"

They all froze. Natsu could make out a figure standing in the middle of the smoke, and as the dust cleared, he could make out a spotted face and feline features. Definitely not Ivan.

"Who are you?" Gajeel growled.

"Who I am isn't important," the stranger said, a slow grin crossing his face that reminded Natsu way too much of Zancrow's gleeful arrogance. "You're all about to die anyway."

"Where's Erza and Wendy? Where's Gray? Where's Ivan?" Natsu demanded.

"Oh, you know those fairies? Even more reason you must die. No, don't try to leave," he said quickly when Gajeel picked up Levy and Juvia. "It's pointless. I've already set up bombs on your retreat. Just stand still and let me finish this quickly."

"Natsu?" Gajeel said.

Natsu nodded. "Got it."

Gajeel sent a barrage of scrap metal across the ground behind them, triggering a huge chain of explosions when they set off the planted traps. This time Natsu was prepared, so he easily sucked up the resulting fire while Gajeel took care of the schrapnel. Path cleared, Gajeel made a sprinting retreat with one unconscious woman under each arm.

By the time Natsu turned back around, their enemy was standing in front of Lucy, that same stupid smile on his face even though Lucy's whip was wrapped around him, trapping him in place.

"Oh, so you're a fire dragon slayer. Interesting," he said. "I'll catch those three later. I think I'll play with you a bit."

"What did you do with the others?" Lucy demanded, yanking him toward her using the whip. He barely stumbled a step before explosions rippled down the length of the whip, Lucy just barely letting go in time to keep her hand from being blown off.

"Lucy!" Natsu cried, tackling her to the ground to get her out of range. He looked up at the enemy and growled. "Who are you?"

He sighed. "If you really care so much, I'm called Jackal. Your magic has no effect on me, I'm afraid. Even the strongest of magic doesn't hold a candle to curses."

"Curses…" Lucy muttered. "You're a demon! Tartarus!"

"So you do know who I am," Jackal said. "Even more interesting. It's a shame I have to blow you to pieces."

Another round of explosions rocked the air around them. Natsu stood in front of Lucy, sucking in all the fiery parts, trying to stand strong against the force of the blast pushing him backwards.

"Lucy, you need to run," he said.

"I'm not abandoning you to attack this guy alone."

"Gajeel will come back."

"Yeah, but what if Jackal has an ally in the area?"

"Shit."

"Until Gajeel comes back, I'm not letting you take this all on yourself." She stood up and brought out her keys. "I might not be able to eat fire, but I'll come up with something. That's what my magic is all about."

"But how can you attack without touching him?" Natsu said. The smoke was clearing, and they had to act fast before Jackal's keen nose sifted through the debris to find them.

Lucy responded by pulling out the key for Libra and altering gravity to knock Jackal back into the house. She turned to him and smirked as if to say, "That's how." The sounds of Jackal cursing echoed from under the pile of debris collapsed around the fallen roof

"I think I saw a fountain in the backyard garden," Lucy said, running off. "Get him back there and I'll take care of the rest."

Natsu nodded and ran in the opposite direction, toward Jackal. Apparently they weren't going to count on Gajeel; they weren't even going to hold down the fort until he managed to return. They were going full-force, just the two of them. They'd been a great team before, and Natsu was more than willing to play this role.

Keeping enemies busy by beating them up was his specialty. Well, it was one of his specialties, but he and Lucy each had their own strengths when it came to battle strategy. If she had a plan, it was sure to be a good one. Better than him trying to hold off Jackal's explosions alone while he waited around for Gajeel to show up as backup.

Natsu was thrown back when Jackal surprised him with another bomb. He wiped the dust from his brow, growling. These explosions were getting real old real fast. And he couldn't do anything about them other than eat the resulting flames. But this demon was sure to be physically stronger than most humans. After all, he was a literal demon.

"Fight me to my face, you coward," Natsu shouted at the clouds of dust.

Jackal burst from under a fallen column, launching at Natsu himself. Natsu quickly put up a block, only to have his heart skip a beat in panic when he realized that Jackal's touch had turned  _his own arm_  into a bomb.

As Jackal cackled, he grabbed that section of his arm, and felt the curse pulsing underneath. Locating the central source of the curse, he focused his magic onto it and imploded.

Natsu grinned. It hurt like hell, but if Jackal knew the curses couldn't work on Natsu directly, maybe it would be a bit intimidating.

Apparently it was intimidating, because Jackal's jaw dropped. "You…it didn't affect you?"

"I'm a dragon," Natsu said with a shrug. He lowered his gaze into a sneer. "You underestimated me."

"No, you underestimated  _me_ ," Jackal cried, creating a bomb in each hand and trapping Natsu between them.

Ughhhh, that hurt. Where was Gajeel? He was taking forever.

At least he had Lucy. And he'd have to do his part so whatever Lucy's plan was would succeed. He didn't know what was up with the thing about water, but it obviously meant something to her if she was willing to run off like that after making that bold statement about not leaving him to fight alone. He had to hold up his end of the bargain.

In the next explosion, Natsu took hold of the fire and pushed it back toward Jackal, hurdling him through the wall. Plaster and stone crumbled around them, and light shone through the dust. They had just busted open a hole to what appeared to be a rather spacious backyard complete with topiaries and fountains. Acres of manicured lawn sprawled out behind Jackal, who was rising back to his feet.

A flash of gold struck Natsu's eye, and he saw Lucy standing ankle-deep in a small pond. She held something in her hand, and Natsu realized it was a key. Lucy found water. Okay.

"I open the gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

A mermaid-like being burst from the water. Everything about her was blue, from her bikini top to her hair, which was held flat to her head by a golden circlet. She held a huge urn in both hands, and didn't waste a moment before using it to fling a massive wave toward Jackal.

"I was in the middle of a date, you bitch!" Aquarius shouted, sweeping Lucy up along with her tidal wave.

"Not me, Aquarius!" Lucy complained.

Natsu sprung into action. Jackal's explosion curse suffocated by the flood, Natsu was able to throw punches without worrying about being turned into a human bomb. And the water suppressed the force of the explosions almost entirely. Jackal was helplessly washed in Natsu's direction, straight into his fists.

"Without your bombs, you're kinda weak, aren't you?" Natsu taunted, landing a punch to Jackal's jaw.

"I'll say," Lucy said. Natsu realized that the water had brought her in this direction as well, and she'd already managed to snag her whip around Jackal's body, pinning his arms to his sides.

"Ready?" Natsu said.

Lucy nodded. "Three…two…one…"

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

"Lucy Kick!"

They connected with Jackal's body at the same time, sending force through their opponent from opposite sides. Jackal gasped, the air squeezed from his lungs. Like this, with his curses dulled and his arms tied to his sides, Jackal was an easy target for their physical attacks.

They were swept underwater for a moment, and then the wave subsided, leaving them lying pathetically in the soggy grass.

"Again, Aquarius!" Lucy shouted. "Bring us underwater!"

"Don't order me around," Aquarius said, but quickly cooperated, pulling the water back in her direction and dunking them straight into a pool connected to the fountain from which she was summoned. Then she disappeared.

It wasn't a particularly deep pool, but it was deep enough for Lucy to hold Jackal underwater with her whip while Natsu railed against Jackal. He didn't know what it would take to subdue a demon, but maybe if he punched Jackal hard enough it'd knock him out. Both Jackal and Natsu's powers were neutralized underwater, and above water they canceled each other out. So subduing him with physical force was the most obvious option.

After being knocked around by Aquarius, Jackal slowly regained his composure and began to fend off Natsu's punches. Demons had some impressive durability, rivaling even dragon slayers', Natsu was noticing.

Jackal kicked off the floor of the pool and rocketed to the surface, dragging a weakening Lucy along with him. Natsu followed after, ready to eat Jackal's flames. But, to his surprise, Jackal simply grinned and began to glow.

"I won't let you get away with defeating me unscathed. I always go out with a bang," Jackal said ominously. Realizing that an explosion bigger than all the rest was about to happen, Natsu grabbed Lucy and wrapped himself around her underwater, bracing them for impact.

The explosion was huge. When the debris cleared, the entire garden had been flattened and half the house was reduced to rubble. Natsu and Lucy climbed out of the water, ears ringing and throats filled with dirty water. And no matter where they looked, the only things left of Jackal were scraps of his clothes.

"I…I guess we defeated him," Lucy said.

"I guess so," Natsu said. "He must've turned himself into a bomb. I can smell him everywhere around here, like he turned into the dust or something."

"I'm just glad it's over. I hope the others are safe."

Natsu took her hand and squeezed it. "I'm sure they are. Come on, let's go find them."


	20. Chapter 20

The rest of the team met Natsu and Lucy as they waded through the rubble. Levy and Juvia had awakened and were being carried on Gajeel and Gray’s backs, and the previously missing members appeared unscathed.

“Thank goodness you’re safe!” Lucy cried, throwing herself at Wendy.

“Natsuuuu,” Happy wailed, doing the same to Natsu.

“That was scary, huh, buddy?” Natsu said, stroking Happy between the ears.

“What happened to that dude?” Gajeel said.

“His name was Jackal,” Lucy said. “Right when we got the upper hand and were about to defeat him, he blew himself up.”

“He said something about going out with a bang, or not wanting to lose to humans, or something.”

“He didn’t say that last part.”

“It was implied,” Natsu said. “In any case, he’s dead. One less Tartarus demon to worry about.”

Erza’s eyes widened. “Tartarus? No wonder he was able to subdue us before we even knew he was there.”

“What happened to you guys anyway?” Natsu asked.

“I found ‘em locked up when I was looking for a place to dump these two,” Gajeel said, jerking his head at Levy and Juvia. “They were restrained with anti-magic cuffs. Sorry I couldn’t come back to help, but I was busy unlocking them.”

“We took care of it,” Natsu said.

“The handcuffs were government issue,” Erza said, expression grave. “They’re the same kind I use as a knight. And he snuck up behind us so quietly that even Wendy didn’t hear him. I’m not surprised he’s Tartarus; not only are they demons, but they’re government-affiliated which could explain how they got those anti-magic handcuffs.”

“It’s exactly as Makarov suspected,” Levy said. “He—”

“First let’s find a place to rest first and assess damage. We have at least two concussions here. Probably more,” Gray said. “Besides, local authorities will probably be here soon so we should skedaddle before we get arrested for using magic.”

“We were fighting a demon!” Natsu said.

“A mage is a mage,” Erza said, “and mages are technically criminals. Gray’s right. Let’s find a place to set up camp.”

They set up tents by the riverbank upstream from Oak Town proper, right on the fringe of the city where it became too rocky for most citizens to settle. From here, they could see the dust cloud that still hung in the air around Ivan’s former mansion.

Ivan himself was nowhere to be found, and the dragonslayers couldn’t catch even a whiff of him, which meant he had probably skipped town long ago. That or Tatarus had already caught him and the Fairy Tail group was just unlucky that Jackal lingered behind. Well, Ivan was evil anyway, so Natsu wasn’t particularly disappointed or worried. They could get their information elsewhere. The less he had to see of that man, the better.

Once Wendy had treated Natsu and Lucy’s injuries and concussions, it didn’t take long for the team to pool their information and figure out what was really going on.

“It all makes sense,” Levy said, head in her hands and eyes wide with horror. “Lucius Mard, Mard Geer… Gods, we were idiots.”

“There are plenty of people in the world with that surname,” Lucy said. “Convenient for him, I suppose.”

“But a lot of Tartarus has unusual names,” Levy said, scanning the list Makarov had given here with the demon’s names. “For humans, anyway. Other than Mard, Seilah is the only one whose name particularly common. Wait, you don’t think the princess of Bosco is… Isn’t her name Seilah?”

“And the Dowager Queen is Kyouka,” Juvia said, pointing to another name on the list. “That can’t be a coincidence. They’re definitely Tartarus.”

“No way,” Lucy said.

“Silver is a common enough name,” Gray said. “Maybe not as common as Seilah, but my father’s name was Silver.”

“No wonder you’re so insufferable; you’ve been half demon all along,” Natsu joked.

“I didn’t bring up my dead father so you could joke about it,” Gray snapped. “I’m just saying that the Silver character will be harder to find if we rely on his name alone, unless we find a preexisting connection like with Mard Geer being Chief Advisor Lucius Mard.”

“Not if he’s in a high position,” Erza said. “Other than Jackal, they all seem to be people of some distinction in society. Chief Advisor, royalty...”

“But there are obviously some among them who didn’t integrate themselves into human society, like Jackal,” Gray said.

“Maybe Jackal was someone important, too. It’s possible he didn’t use his real name” Levy said.

“Yeah, I’m surprised even the human-named ones kept their names the same,” Lucy said. “The ones with more unusual names probably used pseudonyms for sure.”

“If we follow the pattern, Silver probably used his real name too,” Gray said. “We should be able to find him.”

“And Keith,” Juvia added.

“So that leaves Franmalth, Tempesta, Ezel, and Torafusa,” Levy said.

“Ezel sounds like it could be a real name in another country, so let’s keep an eye out,” Gajeel said. “I agree that the rest are likely to have changed their names if they joined human society like Mard. But really, how simple can they get? I thought they were supposed to be powerful demons, so why are they doing something as obvious as going by their real names?”

“They’re Zeref’s most _powerful_ demons, not his smartest,” Natsu said.

Gajeel snorted. “That much is obvious.”

“We should skip Crocus and report back to Makarov right away,” Erza said. “This is exactly the kind of information he sent the three of you back with us to find out.”

“Crocus is on our way,” Levy said. “It can’t hurt to poke around a little more now that we know Mard himself is Tartarus.”

“I honestly thought he was just a go-between,” Lucy said. “I didn’t think demons could be so…human-like. It’s almost frightening. Lesser demons _look_ demonic, but these Tartarus demons could be anyone.”

A short silence fell over the group as that sunk in.

“We’ll have to keep our eyes and ears open at all times,” Gajeel said.

“The k— My father was very careful not to let outsiders know of Natsu and my presence in the castle, so Tartarus probably doesn’t know we were there investigating them. Probably,” Lucy said.

“If we go to Crocus, you’re gonna hafta wear a wig again,” Gajeel said, grinning. “I wanna see it.”

“Only if I’m interacting with higher-ups,” Lucy said. “Commoners won’t recognize me. A lot of people have blonde hair.”

“You’re an exact replica of the late Queen,” Erza said. “Someone more perceptive than us could probably figure it out easily.”

Lucy pouted. “I’m glad that I take after my mom, but if you’re going to use this as an excuse to dress me up every time we go out in public…”

“Oh, we are _so_ using it as an excuse,” Levy said mischievously.

“Please don’t,” Lucy protested.

“Don’t need to. We were fine walking around the streets when we were there together,” Natsu said, feeling the urge to stand up for Lucy. Even if they were just teasing, he felt weird that the others were so excited about dressing her up in those weird clothes again. She looked lovely in them, yes, but it didn’t feel like she’d enjoyed it much.

“Natsu is ruining our fun,” Juvia said.

“If we’re all agreed to stop by Crocus on our way back to Magnolia,” said Erza, returning to the topic at hand, “we must prepare for a long trip. Without teleportation lacrima, it will probably take us two weeks including a few days spent in Crocus proper. Are you all prepared?”

“Aye!”

 

That night, Natsu returned from getting firewood to find Lucy and Gray sitting beside the dwindling campfire, talking quietly but animatedly. Hearing him approach, Gray stood up and bid Lucy a quick goodnight. He sent Natsu a long look before disappearing into his tent.

“What was that about?” Natsu said, dropping the firewood and beginning to stoke the fire.

“What was what about?”

“Gray looked at me funny.”

Lucy sighed. “You always think that. Well, maybe you were right this time. We were talking about you, actually.”

Natsu pointed a stick at her. “Whatever he said, don’t believe it.”

“It was just how you and all the others grew up together,” Lucy said, laughing. “Sounds like you had a really fun childhood. You say you don’t get along with Gray, but I think you two seem pretty close.”

“It’s not by choice,” Natsu mumbled, unable to deny her observations. Gray _was_ one of his best friends, despite everything.

“And you say you’re scared of Erza, but you actually care about each other a lot.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I guess I’m just stating the obvious to you,” Lucy said with an awkward laugh, tucking her hair behind her ear. It fell again right away, so Natsu reached his hand to her ear and tucked it properly this time.

“I’ve said before that Fairy Tail is a family,” he said. “Being close and caring about each other despite everything kind of comes with the territory.”

“I guess I’m just not used to this kind of family,” Lucy said.

“Rich families aren’t very close, huh?”

“Many are, despite the stereotype,” Lucy said. “Mine may have been one of them. But after Mother died…”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“But now you can talk about it with us if you ever need to.”

She smiled. “Yeah. I’m glad I told everyone. I was really nervous, but it went well.”

“I told you, Fairy Tail doesn’t judge based on your background,” Natsu said. “Fairy Tail is family. And you’re part of Fairy Tail now.”

“The solo vigilante, the Celestial Spirit, is now affiliated with an underground mage guild. I wonder what the public would think.”

“I think they’d support it. You’re still doing the same work, it’s just that now, you have friends helping you.”

“Well, I hope so, because I’d like to stay with you guys if you’ll have me.”

“You don’t even have to ask,” Natsu said. He thumped his heart with his fist. “You don’t have the guild mark yet, but you’ve got the heart of a Fairy Tail mage. We’re partners now. You and me and Happy are a team.”

For a moment, Natsu thought she was going to cry. Her eyes glistened in the firelight, and a gentle smile crossed her face. “Mm.”

He leaned down to meet her eyes. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I just…I know you’ve said all this before, but I think it’s finally sinking in.”

He sat back and crossed his arms, satisfied. “Good. It would be really inconvenient if you didn’t think you were one of us and tried to leave because of that. There’s a special send-off we gotta do.”

“I’m not leaving,” Lucy said. “Not anytime soon. We still have to take down Tartarus together anyway.”

“And after that?”

She thought for a moment, then turned to Natsu and winked. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, won’t we?” With that, she called out Plue and headed to her tent.

It took Natsu a moment to start breathing again. That wink was not fair. It was _so_ not fair. And what did “we’ll have to wait and see” mean? Was she planning to leave after beating Tartarus or not?

Suddenly Natsu kind of hoped their mission would drag on for a while, but he shook that thought from his mind. Lucy was here because people were dying. The longer it took for them to figure this whole Tartarus thing out, the more civilians would die at the hands of demon attacks. They had to finish this quickly.

Quickly was a relative term, of course; with a week ahead of them to reach Crocus and then another week before reaching Magnolia, they had a long journey ahead of them before they could get back to the guild. And then after that, who knows?

 

The week to reach Crocus was indeed boring, filled with lots of petty bickering between the boys, secret snickering among the girls, and the usual love/hate dynamic between the two exceeds. But one morning, they found themselves waking up to a gorgeous view of Crocus and its sprawling suburbs, a field of shining wood and clay that all culminated in the castle peaks.

“And you grew up there,” Gray said, standing by Lucy.

Lucy nodded. “For twelve years. Until I was there with Natsu, I hadn’t even stepped foot in it since.”

“Has it changed much?”

“Not at all,” Lucy said. “Nobility are very particular about their traditions, and the royal palace in particular is preserved to a disgustingly immaculate degree.”

“Gihi,” Gajeel chuckled. “So even the princess herself thinks it’s disgustingly immaculate. I couldn’t agree more.”

“That’s because you’re a slob,” Levy said.

“Let’s not fight,” Erza said. “If we’re all done looking at the view, can we sit down at eat breakfast?”

Natsu’s ears perked up at that, and he finally paid attention to the savory smells invading his senses. “Breakfast! Bacon!”

“Eat slowly,” Erza warned, but it was too late. He’d already dug in, and there was no stopping him.

“Are you sure this will be okay?” Wendy asked Erza as they all gathered around the fireplace to grab their share of meat. All of them except for Lucy, who still seemed transfixed by the glorious view of her former home. Erza followed Wendy’s gaze to look at Lucy’s silhouette against the sunrise.

“Well,” Erza said, “I think so.”

“It’ll be fine,” Natsu said.

Levy interrupted, “But if she’s recognized—”

“It’ll be fine,” Natsu repeated. “We’ll stay and take care of camp while you guys snoop around. Nobody’s gonna recognize her if they can’t see her.”

“Natsu’s right,” Erza said. “Now eat up.”

Natsu didn’t need to be told twice. The rest could worry all they want; he was gonna eat his fill and then relax the rest of the day. Just how it should be.


	21. Chapter 21

Babysitting the camp while the others went into the city was really boring. Everyone else was off having adventures exploring the streets of Crocus and spying on government officials, while he was stuck sitting with his legs dangling over a small ridge on the hill that overlooked Crocus, swinging them back and forth. There wasn’t much else to do but watch the shadows shift over the city as the day passed.

“Was it this boring when Lucy and I left you to watch our stuff?” he asked Happy.

“Aye,” Happy said. “Even more boring, because there was no one to talk to.”

“Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Are you bored, Natsu?” Lucy said. For her part, she didn’t seem bothered by the situation at all. She had one of her spirits bring her a book from the Celestial Spirit World’s library and had been absorbed in it all day. Natsu never had the patience for books, though at times like this, he wished he did.

“Do you even have to ask?” Natsu said. “We’ve done nothing all day and the others are out having fun.”

“It’s relaxing,” Lucy said.

“We’ve been relaxing this whole trip over here. No fights or anything. It’s so boring.”

“Are fights the only thing you find fun?”

“No,” Natsu said defensively. “But they’re more fun than sitting around doing nothing.”

“Then how about we do something?” Lucy closed her book and stood up. “Want to spar?”

“With you?” It was a tempting thought. On one hand, Lucy was a strong opponent that he’d love to test his strength against, but on the other hand, it felt weird fighting against his partner. It was like sparring with Happy. It’s just not something he did.

“I’ll even give you a handicap,” Lucy said. She took a moment to call out Plue.

Natsu scoffed. Plue, really? Did she really think Natsu was that weak that he couldn’t win if she used her combat spirits? Plue may be a wolf, but he wasn’t much more than a mascot when it came to fighting.

This was a challenge. She was mocking him on purpose.

But he wasn’t going to take the bait. Not this time.

“I won’t fight my teammate,” he said firmly.

Lucy paused, then seeing the conviction in his eyes, she sighed and sat back down next to him. Plue curled up between the two of them, his large horned head in Lucy’s lap.

“You fight Gray and Gajeel all the time,” Lucy pointed out. “And you’ve definitely talked about fighting Erza before. You sure you’re not just scared to get beaten?”

“You’re underestimating me,” he growled in response to her teasing. “But they’re different. They’re teammates now, but you’re…you’re like Happy. You’re my partner. It’s a different kind of ‘teammates.’” He looked over at the exceed curled up between everyone’s bags. Part of him wanted to ask Happy to play cards to pass the time, but the playing cards were in Erza’s bag, and it looked like Happy was asleep anyway.

“Well, if it’s not fighting, what else do you like to do for fun?” Lucy said.

Natsu shrugged. “I usually just do whatever.”

“Come on, you have to have done _something_ while you were wandering around. I know how easily you get bored. Unless everyone’s lying about you being a vagabond, I’m sure you had a lot of free time on your hands.”

Well, there were some things outside of fighting and hunting. But he was hesitant to do it with Lucy around. “You wouldn’t like it,” he said.

“Like you ever let that stop you.”

He looked at her, then back out at Crocus in the distance. “I would set people’s stuff on fire. Their hair, the tails of their waistcoats…”

Lucy laughed out loud. “Natsu, you already do that all the time.”

“I could probably do it from here if I concentrated hard enough,” Natsu said, squinting out toward Crocus. With his enhanced dragonslayer eyesight, he could just barely see people going in and out of the city gates. It would be a good way to fine-tune his control over his fire, but he and Lucy were supposed to be laying low today.

“Please don’t,” Lucy said.

“Killjoy.”

“The last thing we need is for people to know you’re in the area and they send those guards after us again.”

“I could take ‘em,” Natsu said, but she was right. Even if nobody had recognized them before, the two of them had made quite a fuss in the palace. Who knows how many people had come to know they were there? Staying away from the city proper was a good idea.

Of course, it being the capital, the surrounding area had quite a few people as well. And Natsu was none too pleased when he started to sense a small group of people tracking an animal through the woods.

“We’ve got hunters,” he informed Lucy as their scent grew stronger. The bear had run off in a different direction, but the hunters were still headed straight for their camp, oblivious to their prey’s change of course. Just great.

Lucy quickly sent Plue back to the Celestial Spirit World. She pulled a blanket over her head and turned to face the cliff, her back to the hunters as they came across the clearing.

“Oh,” said one of the hunters, stopping short. “Guess we lost track of that bear. Hello, travelers.”

“It went off that way,” Natsu said, pointing them in the right direction. _Hurry up and leave._

“Really? Thanks, travele— Wait a second.”

Natsu tensed as the hunter looked suspiciously between him and Lucy’s turned back.

“What is it?” the hunter’s companion said.

The hunter just gave a faint smile and shook his head. “Never mind. Have a good day, sir. If you see the bear again, run away; you’re lucky you didn’t get eaten by it. It’s been terrorizing our village lately.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Natsu said.

The hunters left, and Natsu didn’t relax until they were far away from the camp. The bear had changed direction again, but the hunters could figure that out for themselves this time around.

“They’re gone,” he said, and Lucy let out a long breath, letting the blanket drop to her shoulders.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” she said. “I would’ve been recognized for sure if Plue had still been here.”

“Our luck is the worst,” Natsu said, sitting down next to her again. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere and we _still_ manage to come across people.”

“I don’t think being this close to Crocus counts as ‘the middle of nowhere,’” Lucy said.

“But still, for them to come across us here of all places, on top of a small mountain.”

“I can’t be ‘Lucky Lucy’ all the time,” Lucy said with a sigh.

“Is that your nickname?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you this story?” Lucy said. “Of how I got my name.”

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Nope,” he said.

“So my father actually started out as a businessman,” she began, launching into a story of how her parents met. Her father went to a store called “Love and Lucky” for business purposes and came across a woman there. He didn’t know that woman was the queen disguised in civilian clothes to explore the town, but that’s where they first met, and where they went often in the hopes of encountering each other again and again. When they eventually married, Jude Heartfilia had already amassed enough wealth as a businessman for the match to be socially acceptable.

“My mom always called me Lucky Lucy,” she said. “They apparently chose the name because it was spelled almost the same as where they first met. To the public, they said the meaning was for me to become the light of my people, because Lucy means ‘light,’ but that was only part of the reason.”

“Lucky Lucy,” Natsu murmured. “You do have a lot of luck.”

“Not today, I don’t,” Lucy said with a laugh.

“Hanging out with me all day isn’t a lucky occurrence?”

“Seeing as it’s an occurrence that happens every day, I wouldn’t say so,” Lucy said. “Though meeting you the first time might have been.”

“Then the fact that you’re still here with me proves that you’re still lucky.”

She smiled. “I guess so.”

But luck really wasn’t on their side. Out of nowhere, palace guards surrounded them.

Natsu didn’t even have time to be confused before he felt something on his wrists and the strength drained from his body. He couldn’t use his magic.

He caught Lucy’s eyes for a moment in a sideways glance. Then his vision flickered and suddenly they were surrounded by familiar architecture.

Teleportation magic? This was the palace, right? How—

Sure enough, a familiar face greeted them. “Good. You’ve brought them,” said Chief Advisor Mard.

Lucy leveled a hard glare. “Mard Geer,” she said.

The Chief Advisor smiled faintly, but ignored her. “Thank you,” he said to the guards restraining Lucy and Natsu. “You were quite efficient.”

“What should we do with them?” one of the guards asked.

“I’ll take care of the girl,” the Chief Advisor said. He looked at Natsu. “As for this rat, put him in the dungeon.”

So Tartarus was after Lucy. However they’d found her, whatever they wanted her for, this didn’t sound good.

“Don’t you dare take her away from me,” Natsu growled. Blood boiled in his veins. He was furious. But he couldn’t do anything as Lucy was pulled away in her anti-magic cuffs, and he was dragged in the opposite direction.

Her neck twisted to look at him, distress in her eyes as they took her away. “Lucy!” he shouted. “I’ll come get you. Definitely!”

And then she was gone.


	22. Chapter 22

They brought him to a dank dungeon cell, throwing him roughly against the wall and slamming the barred door shut with a clang. Mildew spotted the stone walls, and the stench of urine hung thick in the air. Natsu coughed. This place was disgusting.

Now that that guard’s death grip wasn’t restraining his wrists anymore, he evaluated the anti-magic handcuffs that locked his arms behind his back. He knocked them against the wall. They seemed fairly sturdy. And without his magic, his strength was cut in half.

Luckily for him, he was flexible, so he stepped through the loop formed by his arms to bring his hands in front of him where he could see the cuffs. They appeared to be sealed in a perfect circle around each wrist, but Natsu could faintly see a crease where the handcuffs were sealed. His fire magic would be able to weaken that seam easily, but without his magic, he was in a bit of a bind.

Well, this wasn’t his first time in jail, and it probably wouldn’t be his last. He dusted a spot on the ground and settled in to wait.

 

He didn’t have to wait long.

“Natsu,” a voice whispered.

Natsu looked up. “Happy!”

“Shh, quiet,” Happy whispered. He slunk between the cell bars to join Natsu.

“What’re you doing here, Happy? If they see you, you’re trapped too, you know,” he said.

“Erza sent me,” Happy said. “See?” He carried a slender blade tied on his back, which he shook off. It clattered to the floor.

“Will that get me out?” Natsu said.

“Yes. Erza’s prepared for everything.”

“I’d hope so, with all the luggage she packs,” Natsu muttered as he watched Happy get to work. Happy held the knife in his paws and lined it up along the seam of one of the cuffs. A quick swipe was all it took to break the cuff open.

“Oh!” Natsu jumped up and waved around his free hand. “These things are weak.”

“No; normal knives won’t work, Erza said. But she knew this would happen so she brought this. It’s an anti-magic handcuff key. She has a bunch for when she arrests people.”

“Must be useful being a knight,” Natsu commented as he squatted back down to let Happy do the other hand.

“Do you know where Lucy is?” Happy said. “I didn’t see her in the other cells, and she’s not with you.”

Natsu frowned. When the second cufflink dropped from his wrist, he absently rubbed the skin underneath it. “He took her somewhere.”

“The Chief Advisor took her?”

Natsu nodded.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. But I’m gonna follow her scent and get her out of here.”

“Aye. Take this.” Happy handed Natsu the knife.

“You’re not coming with me?”

“I am. But I don’t have pockets,” Happy said.

“Neither do I.”

“You have opposable thumbs.”

“Good point,” Natsu ceded. “Thanks, I’ll keep this then.”

“Hurry up. Gray’s outside keeping a lookout. He knocked out all the guards, but if any more come we’re in trouble.”

“Got it.” Natsu lit his hands on fire and used them to melt the iron bars enough that he could bend them. He stepped through the gap he created. “Let’s go. We gotta save Lucy.”

Gray was standing at the top of the stairs that led to the dungeon, arms crossed. “Good going, Hothead,” he said as Natsu approached. “You weren’t supposed to let anyone see you. Word spread fast that the Celestial Spirit is in the area.”

“Shut up, they didn’t even see her face so I don’t know how they knew it was her. Anyway, Lucy comes first.”

“Right.”

They ran through the hallway, following Natsu’s memory and the lingering traces of Lucy’s scent.

Natsu traced Lucy’s path to the administrative wing, and straight past several horrified bureaucrats to the Chief Advisor’s room. Natsu slammed the door open. Inside the room was a large wooden desk sitting on a red carpet, several bureaus, and a wall-length bookshelf. There was no Lucy.

“Where did he take her?” Gray wondered aloud, looking around the office.

“She was in here,” Natsu said. “I can smell her. It goes…this way.” He pointed to a blank wall that he quickly realized was actually a hidden panel.

Gray pressed at the side of the panel and swung it open. “It’s just a normal closet,” he said.

“The floorboards,” Happy pointed out.

“Ah.” Gray pulled up a rug, revealing a ladder descending into darkness. He smirked. “Wow, a trapdoor under a rug in a hidden closet. Must be something important down there.”

“Let’s see where it goes,” Natsu said.

“After you.”

Natsu climbed down the ladder, Gray following behind and Happy flying beside him. It went down a narrow shaft for a while, but eventually Natsu’s foot hit the ground. Jumping to solid ground, he lit a flame in his hand to light the area.

“Thanks,” Gray said, joining Natsu. “Damn, it’s dark down here.”

“No torches,” Happy added.

“We don’t need ‘em,” Natsu said. He held out his flame to light more of the passageway. It faded into blackness so they couldn’t see the end.

“We should be quiet,” Gray said. “This is an unfamiliar area that we can’t see well in, so we’re at a disadvantage.”

“Then shut your trap, Creamsicle.”

“Say that to yourself, Matchstick.”

“Both of you shut up,” Happy said.

Happy was someone Natsu was willing to obey. He walked down the dark tunnel. The walls were made of stone, and the floor dirt. Where in the castle were they? How had they managed to get such a place in the castle connected to the Chief Advisor’s room?

They walked for about a minute before they started to see a light glowing at the other end. Natsu extinguished his flame.

The light was coming from a small room lit by candlelight. On the far end was a small wooden door. One side of the room had a huge wall of shelves that surrounded a messy desk, and on the other side, a barred door.

Natsu made a beeline for the single cell. Sure enough, Lucy was inside.

“You’re safe!” Happy exclaimed.

“Shh,” Lucy said quickly, putting a finger to her lips. “He stepped into the other room for a moment but I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

“The Chief Advisor?” Gray said as Natsu worked on bending the iron bars.

“He thinks he can use me to revive END,” Lucy said.

Natsu helped her through the gap he’d made in the bars and turned her around to use Erza’s key on her handcuffs. “What makes him think you can do that?” Natsu asked.

“I have no clue,” Lucy said, “but I’m not sure I want to find out. If it works, we’re all doomed.”

“Well, we’re getting you out of here,” Gray said. “The others are taking care of things outside. We should hurry.”

Lucy’s anti-magic cuffs fell with a clang. There were red rings around her wrists where the handcuffs had been, and Natsu felt his anger rise again. They’d put them on way too tight.

“Let’s go,” he said through gritted teeth, reaching to grab her hand but refraining when he saw her rubbing at the redness on her arms.

“My keys,” she said, looking at the desk. Natsu followed her gaze to her key ring lying among the clutter. He went to grab it, and noticed the heavy leather-bound book sitting next to it. On the cover were three letters: END.

“This is…” He was both fascinated and afraid. Zeref’s ultimate demon was contained in this worn, ancient text. Tentatively, he reached out to touch it.

Pain.

He recoiled as if shocked.

What…what was that? The moment he’d touched it, his hand reacted like he’d been zapped, a current of pain shooting up his arm.

But he didn’t have much time to think about it because Lucy snatched her keys from his other hand and pulled him along. “Come on, hurry,” she urged, pulling him toward the door they’d come from. “He could be back at any second.”

He tried to protest to tell them they should grab the END book, but the words died on his lips and he couldn’t understand why. So he let himself be dragged back into the dark tunnel.

“Natsu, light,” Gray said, snapping him out of his trance.

Natsu lit a fire in his palm. “There. Now you won’t trip and fall.”

“Now we can all  _see_ ,” Gray said.

“Don’t fight now,” Lucy groaned.

“We should hurry before that guy comes back,” Natsu said, throwing balls of fire down the passageway that burned where they landed, lighting their path. Lucy squeaked when he lifted her backwards over his shoulders so she was piggybacking him. He firmly grasped her thighs as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Race you there, Gray.” He took off.

“Oh, no you don’t,” came Gray’s voice from behind him. Natsu sprinted on ahead, Lucy in tow, back to freedom. Or, back to the ladder. Guards and soldiers probably awaited them at the top, since so many people had seen him and Gray in the halls. Maybe they should’ve knocked all those guys out before they came down to get Lucy.

Either way, at this point they had to do what they could with what they were given. And they indeed were given a crowd of armed soldiers waiting for them when they emerged from the Chief Advisor’s secret closet.

“Bust through the wall,” Lucy murmured in a voice so quiet Natsu wasn’t sure he was meant to hear it. But as she stared down the spears pointed at them, she said it again: “Natsu, bust through the wall.”

“Which wall?” he said out loud. The spears repositioned closer in response to him speaking. He smirked. They were afraid, were they? That meant these soldiers weren’t mages.

“Behind the desk,” Lucy whispered.

Natsu nodded. “Roger.” With a wave of his arm, he sent fire hurdling at the wall, smashing it to pieces. Taking advantage of the distraction, he scooped Lucy and Gray up with each arm and leapt over the spears. Trusting Lucy’s judgment, he blindly ran through the huge hole in the wall.

He immediately found himself falling, and then with a loud splash he was in icy waters. They were in the castle moat.

Not knowing which way was up, he swam blindly. As luck would have it, he broke through the surface moments later, gasping for air.

“Good, you’re okay,” Lucy said. “This way.”

His eyes were still stinging from the dirty water, so all he could do was follow her voice until his vision cleared.

“The moat only goes around the back of the castle,” Lucy said, voice thin with the exertion of swimming. “Where are the others located?”

“They went to get a car. They should be near the entrance,” Gray said.

“Okay. Once we get to the wall around the moat, climb up it and run to the right along the top. Happy, can you fly ahead and find them? Tell them where we are.”

“Aye, sir.” With a flap of his wings, Happy disappeared into the night. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy pressed on through the frigid waters until they reached a tall stone wall that contained the moat. Lucy somehow found a hold on the slippery rocks and began climbing up the vertical surface.

Natsu and Gray looked at each other. Were they supposed to be able to climb that?

Gray made a motion like a shrug and used his ice magic to attach icy stakes to his arms and feet. He stabbed them into the cracks between the stones. Natsu scowled. Cheater. Natsu’s magic couldn’t take solid form, so he had to do it the hard way like Lucy.

Ducking down under the water for a moment to give himself momentum, he pushed upwards to the wall, gripping it with his hands spread as wide as possible. The stones were slippery and wet, and for a moment Natsu thought he’d fall and have to try again, but he somehow didn’t slip. Keeping a close eye on where Lucy found her hand- and footholds, he climbed up after her.

By the time he reached the top, the muscles in his arms and legs were trembling. He had almost superhuman strength when it came to fighting, and he’d done his fair share of scaling mountains, but never had he climbed up such a tall vertical wall made of round, slippery stones. It was a new challenge. Too bad he couldn’t do it again to train himself more. Right now, they had to escape.

Lucy took a moment to squeeze the water from her hair, which had long fallen out of its updo. Natsu shook the water from his own hair like a dog. Lucy shouted when the water droplets hit her.

“Careful,” she scolded, smiling.

“You said to go right?”

She nodded. “Follow Gray.”

“Wha—” Natsu realized Gray had already run off as soon as he reached the top. “Ugh,” Natsu groaned. All he wanted to do was squeeze the water from his sopping wet clothes, but it looked like he’d just have to drip the whole way to safety.

Partway along the wall, they found Erza at the helm of a magic-powered carriage, Wendy and Gray waving at them from inside. Natsu leapt down first and caught Lucy in his arms when she jumped after him.

“Took you long enough,” Erza said as they got into the back.

“Just hurry,” Natsu said, collapsing in a puddle on the floor of the carriage. He let Lucy lift him onto a seat as she and Wendy massaged his head and hands in preparation for what was sure to be a killer bout of motion sickness.

Well, he could deal with a little nausea. Lucy was safe. Rescue mission complete.


	23. Chapter 23

“How’d you know where to find us?” Lucy said, hand absently running through Natsu’s hair. He was incapacitated with his head on her lap, fighting nausea from being in a vehicle, but he was still conscious enough to hear the conversation going on around him.

“News of the Celestial Spirit goes around quick,” Gray said. “We hurried back to the camp and you guys weren’t there. There were just a bunch of palace guards that were all talking about how you’d been captured. From there, it wasn’t hard to guess where you ended up.”

“They had a mage among them,” Lucy said. “They teleported so we didn’t know they were coming until they were already there.”

“Isn’t magic illegal?” Wendy said.

“There are secret forces employed by the government,” Lucy said. “Although I don’t know why my father didn’t catch Natsu and I when we escaped, if he had someone with such powerful teleportation magic at his disposal.”

“I think I know who it was,” Erza said from up front. “Remember that knight I met before we split up a few weeks ago?”

“That Doranbolt guy,” Gray said.

“He works for the council as a regular knight, but I’ve heard rumors of him being on one of those secret forces Lucy mentioned.”

“Damn,” Gray said.

“Why aren’t you on a special force, Erza?” Wendy asked.

“I’m from Fairy Tail. Even if they think I’m an ex-member, the fact that I was in it at all is enough to make them not trust me with such a high position.”

“What guild was Doranbolt in?” Gray said. “I don’t remember his name being associated with a guild.”

“No idea,” Erza said. “Even the fact that he’s a mage is something I’m not supposed to know. I’m surprised they used him in such a public fashion; they must’ve been really desperate to catch you, Lucy. They really pulled out all the stops to make sure you were captured cleanly.”

“Well, she’s a princess _and_ the Celestial Spirit,” Gray said. “I’m not surprised.”

“Where are the others?” Lucy asked.

“They went ahead,” Wendy said. “We should catch up to them soon.”

“That’s if Erza’s driving doesn’t kill us first,” Natsu grumbled, only to be thrown to the floor again when she made a particularly sharp turn. Probably in response to his very comment.

“Watch it,” Erza called from the driver’s seat. “There’s more where that came from.”

Natsu moaned in agony. “So cruel, so cruel,” he muttered.

“Get up here, you idiot,” Lucy said with a sigh, pulling him back up onto her lap. “You get even more unreasonable when you’re motion sick.”

“Not unreasonable,” he slurred.

“Aggravating Erza is pretty unreasonable,” Gray said.

“Not unreasonable,” Natsu repeated. The soothing feel of Lucy’s fingers massaging his head was quickly becoming almost hypnotizing, lulling him to sleep despite his stomach’s protests.

He didn’t wake up until the vehicle stopped. His body sensed the lack of motion and he instantly sprang up, eyes bursting wide open.

“We’re done!” he said, leaping from the carriage.

“For now,” Erza corrected.

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“You’re all safe!” Juvia cried, rushing to tackle Gray in a hug.

Gray patted her head. “Yeah, yeah. Say that to the bozo that got caught.”

“Don’t call Lucy a bozo,” Natsu said.

“Oh, right. Sorry, Lucy.”

“No offense taken,” she said smoothly. “Shall we get going? We have some ground to cover.”

“To Magnolia!” Natsu shouted, marching off down the road.

“Not so fast,” Erza said, pulling him back. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Natsu tilted his head. “Aren’t we going back to Magnolia?”

Gajeel scoffed. “Not on foot, idiot,” he said.

“Why would we walk there when we have a carriage?” Gray added.

Natsu paled.

“Come on, you wimp, get back in there,” Erza said, tossing him in. He landed with a thud. “Be thankful. It’s not me driving this time.”

“At your service,” Gray said, tipping an imaginary hat.

“Damn, that’s even worse,” Natsu muttered.

Lucy, who hadn’t left her original seat, laughed and patted her lap. “It’s going to be crowded with more people in here, but if you don’t mind sitting on the floor, I’ll let you nap on me again.”

Not like he had much choice if he didn’t want to vomit over everyone. “Don’t mind if I do,” he said, making himself comfortable. He could feel the queasiness already setting in before the damned thing even started moving.

In theory he understood that this was a good thing. When magic was banned, these magic-powered carriages became horse-powered instead, but most didn’t bother dismantling the old magic converters. If they’d had to steal horses as well as the carriage itself…well, horses made for a much rougher ride than the smooth control of magic energy. But a vehicle was still a vehicle. And vehicles, no matter how smooth, made Natsu horribly sick.

 

A barrage of complaints about Gray’s driving led to a fight during one of their short pit stops.

Natsu rushed forward, fists flaming. He leapt over Gray’s head, landing right where Gray had been only moments before. He quickly turned to dodge a spear of ice that flew from behind him. He growled.

“Fire Dragon’s Roar!” he shouted, breathing a wall of flames from his mouth. It met with Gray’s ice and dispersed, the two magics canceling each other out. But Natsu didn’t let up, rushing forward in the wake of his fire to send a punch to Gray’s jaw. Gray retaliated with an icy fist in Natsu’s gut.

From here, Natsu could easily roast Gray like a potato, and that punch to Natsu’s stomach could’ve easily been a spike of ice impaling him. It was a shame they weren’t actually enemies. Sparring matches like this were so boring compared to the real thing.

Well, Natsu had to do what he could to spice things up a bit. Grinning, he grabbed a fistful of Gray’s hair and let his body heat singe the tips.

“Hey! What the hell!” Gray knocked Natsu’s arm aside and kneed him in the stomach.

Natsu coughed at the impact, but it was definitely worth it to see smoke rising from Gray’s head. “What? You were gonna get a haircut when we got to Magnolia anyway.”

“Yeah, but I still have to walk into the guild like this!”

“Oops?”

Gray glowered at Natsu as he pounded a fist to his hand, activating ice magic. “I’ll chop your balls off.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Natsu taunted.

“I hope you’re ready to start your life as a eunuch.”

“Only if you let me make you bald.”

“In your dreams, asshole.”

“Bring it on, Snowflake.”

“That old nickname again? You really got to get more creative.”

“Says the guy who alternates between Hothead and Chili Paste.”

“I have others: Flamebrain, Mouth Breather, Charcoal, Hot Sauce…”

“Stripper. Popsicle.”

“You overuse those, too.”

“Fuck you.”

“Cut it out!” Erza bellowed, bringing the argument to a sudden halt. “Back in the carriage, you two. I’m driving.”

“Are you sure, Erza?” Wendy said, tugging at her sleeve. “You were driving pretty fast leaving Crocus, so your magic might still be—”

“If I feel my magic getting low, I’ll switch with someone,” Erza reassured her.

“We can get the exceeds to pull, like horses,” Gajeel said.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Happy said.

Charle opened one eye to glare at him from Wendy’s arms. “Not on your life,” she snapped.

Happy pouted and curled himself around Natsu’s shoulders. “Try not to barf on me, okay?” he said.

“Then don’t sit there.”

“But it’s comfortable.”

Natsu climbed back into the carriage and collapsed onto Lucy’s lap again for the duration of the ride to Magnolia. When they got there, Gray left them to get his haircut done before entering the guild, Juvia accompanying him. And it turned out to be a good thing when comparing notes with Makarov brought up a rather sensitive topic.

“What do you mean, Gray’s father is in Seven?” Erza said, slamming her hand palm-down onto the table. Natsu didn’t see her make this kind of aggressive pose often with Makarov, so she must really be worked up by this news.

“I thought Gray’s old man was dead,” Gajeel said. “Wasn’t his family from Fiore anyway?”

“It may be an imposter, of course. But while you were away, I received news of a Silver Fullbuster living as a business tycoon in Seven,” Makarov said. “If we compare this with the Silver we know to be a member of Tartarus, I believe something fishy is indeed going on here.”

“Fishy?” Happy said, perking up.

“Not that kind of fish,” Natsu said, quieting his friend.

“I want some of you to go with Gray to investigate,” Makarov continued. “Since you’re going up against a potential Tartarus member, I’ll be sending a few of you. Lucy, Natsu, Juvia, and Gajeel, you all accompany Gray. Take good care of him if something comes up. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t like it, and I don’t think he will either.”

“Juvia will break the news,” Juvia said.

Makarov nodded. “Good. You can make plans for when to leave once Gray is informed. I’ll be counting on you for that, Juvia. Levy, I need you to stay here at Fairy Tail. I have some materials I need you to look over.”

“Understood.”

“Erza, between stealing that carriage and being seen hanging around this bunch, I imagine you’ll be in hot water with your superiors.”

“I will almost certainly lose my knighthood,” Erza said. “Doranbolt won’t keep quiet after what happened in Crocus.”

Makarov grimaced at the knight’s name and sighed. “They’ll come here looking for you eventually, so I’m going to send you on a special mission with Wendy. Is that all right?”

“That sounds great,” Erza said.

“I agree,” Wendy said, eyes sparkling at the prospect of going on a mission with Erza.

“What about the Princess and Dowager Queen of Bosco? Between their names and their ties to Mard, they’re definitely Tartarus,” Lucy said.

“We’ll leave them be for now,” Makarov said. “We wouldn’t want to provoke them and cause an international incident. Let’s focus on the other members of Tartarus for now.”

“Juvia doesn’t think we can avoid making an international incident,” Juvia said. “If they are already in Seven and Bosco, they could be in other countries as well.”

“Seven and Bosco both have borders with Fiore, but Caelum and Minstrel are not far by ship,” Erza said. “It’s not unlikely.”

“Do you think they’ve spread beyond Ishgar?” Wendy said. “They could be all the way on the mainland, or even on Alakitasia continent—”

“There are only so many main members of Tartarus,” Gajeel said. “If their leader is in Crocus, they can’t be too far from Fiore.”

“Gajeel’s right,” Makarov said. “Let’s not worry about the hypotheticals for now and just do our best with the information we have. We need to stop these demon attacks and stop Tartarus from reviving Zeref, or whatever it is they’re trying to do.”

There was a knock on Makarov’s office door, and they all paused to look.

“Come in,” Makarov said.

The door opened and Gray stepped in, closing it behind him. He paused, looking around at all their staring faces with bewilderment. “What is it? What’d I miss?”

Everyone turned to look at Juvia. She flushed slightly and hurried to her feet. “Juvia will take care of this,” she said. “Gray Dearest, please come with Juvia.”

Gray let himself be dragged away, confused. “What’s with the ‘dearest?’” he grumbled as they disappeared from the room.

“Godspeed, Juvia,” Lucy said quietly.

Natsu snickered. “Did you see his haircut?”

“Yeah, it looked good,” Lucy said, giving Natsu a stern look.

It was a shorter haircut than Gray’s usual, which gave Natsu a strong sense of pride. He’d had won that round, that’s for sure. He was sure to pay for it in a later fight, but he’d enjoy the feeling of victory while he still could.

A small paw nudged his arm. “Natsu, let’s go home,” Happy said quietly.

Natsu looked down and smiled. He petted Happy’s head affectionately. “You tired, little guy?”

“You should go home and get some rest,” Makarov said. “You’ve all had an eventful day, and it’s already well past sundown.”

“That it is,” Erza observed with mild surprise, looking to the darkened window of Makarov’s office.

“Prepare to stay in town tomorrow making preparations,” Makarov said. “We’ll want to give Gray some time to process things and make sure he’s okay before heading out. Erza and Wendy, we’ll discuss your mission tomorrow as well. Time is of the essence to keep Erza safe, but I’ll let Wendy get some sleep.”

“I wouldn’t allow anything less,” Charle said.

Wendy nodded her thanks.

“All right,” Makarov said, pressing his hands together. “That ends tonight’s debriefing. Get some rest, all of you. Good work.”

“Of course!” Natsu said. “We’re Fairy Tail! If there’s one thing we know how to do, it’s relax!”

Lucy scoffed. “Is that something to brag about?”

“It is for Natsu,” Levy said.

“Fair enough. Natsu, I’m crashing at your place again.” She wasn’t asking.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Take me with you,” Happy said. “I’m tired.”

“Is Natsu not going home?” Lucy said, turning to him.

“Nah, I’m gonna hang out for a bit. You guys go on ahead.” It had been a long day for sure, but he was gone for ages before he brought Lucy here, and he hadn’t stuck around long before their job took them away. This time, too, he probably wouldn’t be here long. As much as he’d feared coming back in many ways, he missed this place. He missed Fairy Tail. It was his home even more than that cabin in many ways, so even if it was only for a little bit, he wanted to linger in this rickety old building for a while longer until the sensation of home returned.

Besides, he had some thinking to do after seeing Lucy taken from him a second time, and there was no better place for that than the bar at Fairy Tail Tavern.


	24. Chapter 24

After sharing a few minutes of lighthearted banter with Makarov, Natsu wandered down to the bar. Mira must’ve been having an off-duty night, because she was nowhere to be seen and everyone at the bar was a non-mage regular. Makarov must’ve had everyone else out on missions, too; Erza was the only other Fairy Tail mage at the bar. Figuring her company was better than none, he wandered over. He had something to talk to her about anyway.

“You know, a few years back, I used to have a crush on you,” Natsu said as he sat down next to her.

Erza smiled warmly and pulled Natsu into a side hug. “I’m flattered. But you have someone else you like right now, don’t you?”

Natsu looked at his hands and mumbled, “Yeah.”

“I’m guessing you want to talk about it.”

Natsu was silent. This was what he’d come here for, but actually saying it was proving difficult.

Erza let out a long exhale and released Natsu from her embrace. He sat up straight in his stool, rubbing his shoulder.

“You know,” she said, “I’ve had quite a few crushes in my day, too.”

Natsu looked at her. It was hard to imagine Erza falling in love. “You have?”

She nodded. “You may not have noticed this, but Kagura, from Mermaid Heel? She and I almost dated.”

That was surprising.

“Of course, that was a few years ago. Now she’s like a little sister.” She paused, letting Natsu process this new information before continuing. “But with Jellal, it was different.”

Natsu jumped at the mention of Jellal’s name, startled. “Wait. You dated Jellal?” How in the world had he missed this? He knew they were close, but…

Erza chuckled. “No, he doesn’t think he deserves me. I didn’t want to pursue it either, of course — you know our history — but by avoiding my feelings entirely, I was actually making things worse for both of us. It wasn’t until I sorted out my feelings that we were able to progress anywhere, even if Jellal has yet to do the same. You see what I’m saying?”

“I guess,” Natsu said. “But why are you telling me all this?”

“You’ve been holding yourself back too, haven’t you? Because of Lucy.”

He frowned. She was sharp. Well, not that there was any other reason he’d brought this up with her.

“You’ve said in the past that you aren’t into the same things most of us are romantically, but I see the way you look at her sometimes. It’s different from how you looked at Lisanna,” — his shoulders shrunk at the mention of her name — “and I’ll bet it’s different from the way you looked at me.”

Natsu folded and re-folded his hands before him on the bar. She wasn’t right, but she wasn’t completely wrong either. “It’s weird,” he said, voice quiet. “I don’t like it.”

“It took me a long time to accept my feelings for Jellal. Just know that some things don’t go away if you refuse to confront them. It’s only by being honest about your feelings that you’re able to move past them.”

Lucy wasn’t the first time he’d been shaken up like this. Most of the time he was drawn to someone, it had been a stranger, so he was able to ignore it and move on. But moving on from Lucy was proving more difficult than he anticipated. Especially since she’d captured his heart, too.

“It’s okay if you take your time,” Erza said. “It’s even okay if you never act on those feelings at all, if they truly make you uncomfortable. But you want to, right?”

Natsu nodded.

“Maybe you should talk to Lucy about this.”

Natsu balked. “Are you crazy? No way I’m telling her all that,” he exclaimed.

“I don’t mean you have to admit your feelings for her; just talk about feelings in general. You don’t even know if she’s into guys, do you?”

“Oh. Right.”

“I would ask her for you, but I think it’s better if you talk to her yourself. She trusts you the most out of any of us. I think if you ask, she’ll open up to you.”

Erza had a point. But Natsu still wasn’t sure he was ready to face all of this. After what happened last time he liked a girl…

“You’re thinking about Lisanna again, aren’t you?”

Natsu flinched. Caught.

Erza sighed. “You really need to let it go.”

“I know,” he mumbled. “You guys keep telling me.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“…”

“Did you know that Elfman thinks it’s his fault?”

Natsu’s head turned sharply. “What? That’s stupid!”

“I could say the same to you.”

“No, but I—”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You did your best. So did Elfman. Honestly, both of you are just looking for self-pity as a way of excusing your helplessness. Nobody could do anything in that situation. It’s nobody’s fault, yet both of you keep blaming yourselves for everything. Yes, it’s stupid.”

Natsu scowled. She was making sense, but again, what she said wasn’t quite _right_. It was his fault. That was a fact. No amount of reasoning or logic could change the truth.

“I changed my mind,” Erza said. “Don’t talk to Lucy about feelings. Talk to her about _this_.”

“About Lisanna?”

She nodded.

“No,” Natsu said quickly. “No. I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Why can’t she know?”

“Because she’ll blame me.”

“For something that’s not your fault? For what happened to someone she never even met?”

“She wouldn’t trust me anymore.”

“But you still trust her after hearing her secrets, right? Don’t look at me like that; no, she didn’t tell me much, just that she told you things she’s never revealed to anyone before. You’re a good guy, Natsu, no matter what you think of yourself. She knows that, too.” Erza stood. “Well, I already know better than to try too hard to convince you. Gods know all of us have tried several times over. You’d best be getting home, Natsu. Lucy’s waiting.”

Natsu watched wordlessly as Erza left for the women’s dorms, leaving him alone at the bar. He didn’t move. He wasn’t ready to go back yet, not after that conversation.

It was a while later that the sound of his name pulled him from his thoughts.

“Natsu?” It was Happy’s voice.

“Happy? I thought you were going to sleep. What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Happy said, flying over and landing softly on the bar counter with all four paws. “It’s getting late, Natsu.”

“I know. I just needed some time to think.”

“You? Thinking? Scary.”

“Like you’re one to talk, Happy.”

“I’m a cat. I don’t have to think. I just use my cat instincts.”

Natsu stood up and stretched. “Alright, Happy, let’s go home.”

“Aye!”

Natsu followed happy out of the guild, but nearly jumped out of his skin to see Lucy waiting outside.

“Took you long enough,” she said, pouting. Her golden hair was tied up in an off-center ponytail, the tips resting just behind her shoulder.

“So you came, too,” he said.

“Well of course. I was bored, and Happy didn’t want to sleep until you came home.” She frowned. “Why, were you avoiding me or something?”

Natsu shook his head quickly. “No, no, nothing like that.” He thought back to Erza’s words. Might as well get the whole coming-out talk over with. Also, he wanted to gauge her feelings toward him, and maybe talking about it would give him some hints.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

He cringed at the suddenness of his own question. Why could he never bring things up naturally? He really needed to stop blurting things out without thinking. Stupid, stupid.

Happy made a loud noise of disgust. “Okay, no. I’m leaving. I’m not gonna listen to you two being sappy,” he said, flying off.

“No, Happy, I’m not—” It was too late. Natsu sighed. He really wasn’t planning to use that question as a lead-in to ask her out or anything, even if it might look that way. He just wanted to know.

Lucy giggled. “I know you don’t mean anything by it. No, I never had time to think about that stuff. What about you?”

“I’m kind of the same, I guess,” he said. “I’ve had a few crushes, but that’s it.”

“Ooo. Was it anyone in Fairy Tail?”

“Can I not answer that?”

Lucy laughed mischievously. “Who was it, Mira? She’s pretty hot.”

“No. Mira’s scary,” he said.

“Hmm, then I take it Erza is out as well, huh…”

He kept his mouth shut.

“What kind of people do you like anyway? I’m curious now.”

“Lucy,” he whined.

“You’re the one who asked me first.”

“But you didn’t even say anything. Not fair.”

She pressed her lips together. “Fine. There really isn’t much to say, though; I didn’t interact with people my age as a kid, and I’ve been so busy the past few years that there was never a chance to think about it. And if I had to pick out people I like…well, I already said Mira’s hot. Cana too. Is that enough? Even though it’s not a crush or anything.”

“Do… This might be invasive, but you only listed girls, so…”

“No, I’m definitely into at least two genders,” Lucy said, and Natsu breathed a sigh of relief. “But I’m not naming any more specifics. You?”

“I’m the same. And not telling who.”

Lucy let her hands bounce on her thighs as she walked. “I wasn’t expecting that sort of question from you, though,” she said. “I didn’t think you cared about that sort of stuff. Like Cana.”

“Nah, I just don’t feel like getting into all the messy love stuff. I’m not into sex so the whole guild knows not to bother asking me. Specifically, I’m gray-ace. But I had crushes, so they know I’m not aromantic like Cana is.”

“I’d ask who they know you had crushes on, but you said you’re not telling.”

“You’re not telling either.”

“Fair enough.”

“Most people think I’m weird. Because of the whole not wanting sex thing.”

“Do you think you’d ever want it?”

“Maybe just to try, but if I do it once they might expect me to do it again, and what if I don’t _want_ to do it again? I do get desires sometimes, but I…it’s still weird to me. I get nervous.”

Lucy laughed. “Imagine, Natsu actually admitting he’s nervous about something! This is a first. Anyway, they’re a jerk if they think you’re obligated to have sex just because they want you to. You deserve better than that.”

Natsu let out a long breath. “If only other people thought more like you,” he said. It had taken him ages to get some of the others in Fairy Tail to understand him, but Lucy accepted it just like that. It felt like a huge weight off his chest. This kind of talk was awkward and difficult, but he was glad he’d brought it up after all.

Lucy opened her mouth as if to say something, but her brows furrowed and she stayed silent. The sound of gravel crunching underfoot filled Natsu’s ears. Then, as if sensing the lull in the conversation, Happy returned.

“Are you guys done talking now?” he said.

Natsu offered his head for Happy to land on. “Yup. We had a good talk.”

“What’d you talk about?”

“Just stuff,” Natsu said.

“Hmm?” A telltale purr alerted Natsu that Happy’s teasing mode had been activated. “What, were you too embarrassed? You didn’t even confess?”

“Confess to what?”

“You like her,” Happy drawled.

Natsu groaned. “Really, Happy? This again?”

“It’s obvious.”

“It’s not obvious.”

Lucy laughed. “Let it rest for today, Happy; he’s turning pink as his hair. Don’t worry, Natsu, it’s not like I’ll get the wrong idea just because of Happy teasing you.”

“Yeah,” Natsu mumbled. “Thanks.” Not that Happy was wrong.

Happy was still snickering atop Natsu’s head. Natsu tried swatting at him to make him stop, but Happy quickly flew out of the way, choosing to hover by Lucy instead.

“What were you doing in the bar all by yourself anyway, Natsu?” Happy said.

“I told you, I was thinking.”

“About what?”

Natsu hesitated. “Erza and I talked about some things earlier. I had to decide on something.”

“On what?” Happy said. “Is it something about Tartarus?”

“No, it’s… Oh, fuck it. Happy, go on ahead of us.”

Happy grinned, tail flicking with energy. “You got it. Good luck, Natsu.”

Happy knew him too well. “Thanks, buddy,” Natsu said.

“Lucy,” he said once Happy was out of sight.

“Yes?” she said. She was looking mighty confused after that exchange with Happy, and though she was still facing forward to the path ahead of them, her eyes were glancing at Natsu curiously.

“It’s about what we just talked about.”

“Yeah…?” Her poker face faltered.

“Um.” He averted his eyes, trying his best not to blush. “You’re really great.” Gods, why was this so hard?”

“Uh. Thanks?”

His hands pulled at his hair. “No, that’s not what I meant. Argh. Happy’s gonna kill me for sending him away twice over nothing.”

“Natsu, what on earth is bothering you?”

“You. You’re bothering me.”

“O-oh. How am I—”

“Arghhhhh!”

“Natsu?”

“I like you, okay?”

She stopped in her tracks, and he slowed to a stop in front of her. She just stared at him. She blinked.

“I…I like you, too,” she said, bewilderment apparent on her face.

“No, I mean…the thing we were talking about before. The kind of person I like. Right now, it’s you. It’s been you for weeks now. And if we’re going to be on the same wavelength in any upcoming fights, you need to know.”

Her mouth opened, but it took a full ten seconds for any words to come out. “You too,” she said. “You should know that I like you, too.”

Natsu nearly went limp in shock. His eyes widened. “Shit. Seriously?”

Lucy nodded, blushing bright red all the way to her ears. She stared at her feet, just barely hiding her bashful smile.

Natsu felt his face flush as well. He couldn’t do anything but stare, completely struck by this news. He was just planning to get those feelings off his chest so he didn’t have to agonize over them anymore, but for them to actually be reciprocated…? For the Celestial Spirit herself, this woman whose strength probably rivaled Erza’s, to be standing there _blushing_ in front of him— he didn’t know what to do. What did a guy do in a situation like this? Not for the first time since meeting Lucy, Natsu was speechless.

“Um,” Lucy said, “we should get going. Happy…”

“Right,” Natsu said quickly, laughing probably a little bit too loud.

They fell into step with each other, following the path back to Natsu and Happy’s cabin. The silence was tangible.

Natsu didn’t know if the silence was a good thing or a bad thing. Was he supposed to try to hold her hand or something? Shit, his lack of experience was going to be an issue. He’d been a vagabond thief for years, and even after that nearly two-month-long mission with others, his social skills were still a little rough. Not to mention he hadn’t let himself even _think_ about romantic things ever since Lisanna—

He choked on his own thoughts again as he remembered the other half of his conversation with Erza. He still had to tell Lucy about Lisanna. Erza told him to tell her tonight, but the timing didn’t seem appropriate. They were about to leave on a mission that would be emotionally difficult for Gray, and Natsu didn’t want to detract from that by airing his own issues. Gray was the one who would be hurting the most in the coming weeks, not Natsu.

But Lucy deserved to know. Would she still claim she liked him after hearing what he did to the first girl he liked?

He’d tell her later at some point, he decided, to give himself some time to mentally prepare. For now, he should to let himself be happy that Lucy liked him the same way. Surely he at least deserved that much.

They didn’t hold hands walking back to the cabin, and Happy’s teasing when they got there kind of made him glad for that fact if only because it’d’ve been one more thing for Happy to tease him about. They got ready for bed like they always had while camping — the difference being that Natsu got to sleep in his own hammock instead of on a thin mat.

“You can have these blankets,” Natsu said, shoving them toward Lucy and hoping they were warmer than their ratty appearance. “I should really get a bed since you keep staying here, but…”

“I don’t mind,” Lucy said. “It was my choice to stay here instead of with one of the girls, and I knew this meant sleeping on the floor. But I’ve already imposed on you, so I feel more…comfortable, I guess.”

“No other reason?” Happy said, peering around from behind Natsu’s leg.

Lucy laughed off the jab and leaned down in Happy’s face. “No other reason,” she confirmed. “I don’t let those kinds of feelings affect my decisions. It’s a bad habit of mine.”

“Shouldn’t it be a good habit?” Natsu said.

Lucy looked up, smiling wryly. “It’s bad when it takes me this long to even say anything.”

Natsu scratched his neck. “Well, I’m the same there,” he mumbled.

“Just go to sleep, Natsu. I thought you said Fairy Tail was great at relaxing.”

“Who could relax after a day like this?” Natsu said.

“You always manage somehow,” Lucy said with a laugh. “Goodnight, Natsu.” She leaned up on the balls of her feet and pecked Natsu on the cheek.

He lifted a hand to touch the warm impression she left, the sensation still tingling after her lips were gone. This was new.

Somewhat embarrassed, Lucy quickly turned her face away and called out Plue so she could bury her face in his fur and feign instant sleep.

For his part, Natsu jumped immediately into the hammock, curling up facing the opposite direction from her, face burning. This was too much for him. The great Salamander had been slain, and it was all Lucy’s fault. Gods, the things she did to his heart.

However many months ago, the Celestial Spirit had come into his life and turned everything upside down. The vagabond returned home again. The loner fought with his friends. And an untouchable legend, _the_ most famous outlaw in all of Fiore had teamed up with an illegal mage guild and maybe even confessed feelings for one of them. And not even one of the successful ones, but a mage who had been living as a wandering thief for years prior to their meeting.

With demons causing havoc and more information being discovered about Tartarus every day, Natsu could tell the winds were shifting in Ishgar in more ways than one. It was all thanks to a certain Lucy Heartfilia that Natsu got to experience this. He had to thank her somehow. Maybe he’d return that kiss in the morning. The cheek would be too obvious of a copy; her forehead, perhaps, or her temple?

Happy’s weight settled onto Natsu’s chest, and he held the exceed close. With his two partners by his side, Natsu felt invincible. Tartarus was going down.


	25. Chapter 25

“I can’t believe you talked to Erza about it and didn’t even tell me,” Happy whined.

It was a morning of shy glances and hidden smiles, all to the soundtrack of Happy’s alternate teasing and complaining as they walked to the guild for breakfast.

“I thought you already knew, with all your teasing,” Natsu said.

“Yeah, but you never actually admitted it,” Happy said.

Natsu thought for a moment. “You’re right,” he realized. “Sorry, Happy. I didn’t mean to leave you out.”

“It’s fine. Nobody else at the guild knows you two finally talked it out except for me, so I’m still special.”

“You’re my best friend, Happy. Of course you’re special.”

Happy rubbed his cheek against Natsu’s ankles and purred, nearly tripping Natsu in the process.

Lucy giggled. “So you _can_ act like a real cat sometimes,” she said.

“Of course I can. Us exceeds are basically mutated cats, after all.”

“You also talk and fly and sit on Natsu’s head.”

“Cats like high places, so a head is the perfect place to sit,” Happy defended, sprouting his wings and doing just that.

“You could at least sit on his shoulder instead like a normal cat,” Lucy said.

“But that’s boring. I already have to grab onto his shoulders when I carry him; I don’t wanna have to sit there, too.”

“Fair enough,” Lucy said.

Happy leapt from Natsu’s head and put away his wings when they heard footsteps running toward them down the path. Natsu slowed down, preparing for battle, but relaxed when he saw it was only Wendy.

“Natsuuuu! Happyyyy!” Wendy called out to them and waved an arm high in the air. Natsu could see Charle flying along behind her.

“Hey, Wendy. What are you doing here?” Natsu said.

Wendy slowed to a stop in front of them and caught her breath. “I wanted to say goodbye before leaving,” she said, voice thin.

“You’re leaving already?” Lucy asked. It was still early morning.

“Yeah. Makarov didn’t want to waste any time and put Erza in trouble.”

“Erza didn’t want to say goodbye?” Natsu said.

“I’m saying goodbye on her behalf as well. She’s still packing. Her dorm rooms will probably get raided when they send for her, so she has to take everything with her.”

Natsu whistled. “That’ll be a lot of luggage. Good luck, Wendy.”

Wendy grimaced. “Thanks.”

“Oh, and tell her ‘thanks’ for me.”

“For what?”

“She’ll know what I mean. She can tell you about it if she wants.” Natsu glanced sideways at Lucy. Half of what he talked about with Erza, he could say in front of her, but it wasn’t the right time to mention the other half. And if he was going to have to explain Lisanna to Lucy, he didn’t want to do it right in front of Wendy; Wendy was a toddler when Lisanna died and hadn’t taken her death well either.

They waved Wendy off cheerfully. Charle even bid a terse goodbye to Happy, which had him practically swooning to the point where Lucy had to carry him all the way to the guild because he refused to walk (or fly) himself.

It didn’t take long before the Seven team was on their way as well. Makarov and Gray talked things out, and apparently Gray was mentally prepared enough for this that they could leave almost right away.

Their traveling party had considerably shrunk, going from ten down to six, which meant Natsu had even more opportunities to butt heads with Gray and Gajeel. And with the only other girl in their group still wary of Lucy, he found himself in her company more than before as well.

If anyone noticed the changed atmosphere between them, they didn’t say anything. Natsu and Lucy would probably have to state it outright for the others to know anything besides the usual mutual pining was going on with the two of them; apparently both of their feelings had been common knowledge among the rest of the Fairy Tail team for a while now. And the major differences in how they acted around each other mostly came out when they were alone.

They still had their usual firelight talks at the end of each day, but their chats were a lot quieter, shyer. And when they were sure all the others were asleep, Natsu found his hand curling around Lucy’s as they talked, thumb gently stroking the backs of her fingers.

During the day, though, they talked and squabbled as they usually did. Natsu and Happy would tease her about her princess-y ways, and she would tease them right back whenever they said something stupid. And she had her hands full trying to keep Natsu from getting into fistfights with the other guys, since Juvia wasn’t much help in that regard.

It took a couple days for them to get to the border, and crossing was surprisingly easy —they were just suddenly in a different country without so much as a welcome sign, let alone a border checkpoint.

“Juvia’s hometown is around here,” Juvia said, looking around at the scenery with a faint smile. “This area looks familiar to Juvia.”

“Really?” Lucy said. “We should stop by, then.”

Juvia shook her head. “That place does not hold many happy memories. The mission is more important.”

“I didn’t know you were from Seven,” Gray said.

“Lord Gray never asked.”

“I definitely have asked,” Gray said. “You always say you don’t like talking about yourself and avoid the question.”

“Ah, is that so? Juvia apologizes.”

“What’s the town called?”

“The name is not important,” Juvia said quickly.

“See? Avoiding the question,” Gray said.

“Ah! Juvia did it again! The town is called Dogwood.”

Lucy looked for it on their map. Her eyebrows raised. “It’s actually on our path. Juvia, are you sure you don’t want to stop by? It’s in the perfect location for us to spend a night there.”

“An inn would be much better than camping out all the time,” Gajeel said.

Juvia turned slightly red. She pressed her forefingers together nervously, eyes trailing at her feet. “If…if it is okay with everyone, Juvia actually would like to visit,” she said.

Gray smiled and patted her shoulder. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

She smiled and shook her head.

“Be a little more selfish sometimes, would ya?” Gajeel said, ruffling her hair.

Juvia giggled at the affectionate attention from the two men.

“While we’re at it, we can ask around if anyone’s heard of whoever’s posing as Gray’s dad,” Lucy said. “We’re getting pretty close to where he’s supposedly living. It’s only about half a day’s trek past Dogwood.”

“He’s supposedly some big business tycoon,” Gray said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

“Gramps didn’t hear of him until just recently, so whatever he’s doing must be real hush-hush,” Natsu said.

“I don’t think he’s as well-informed as he likes to make himself out to be,” Gray said.

“Well, regardless, he’s supposed to be a big deal so we should be able to find him, especially if this region is where he’s living. Whatever kind of business he’s running, most of the people in the area will be employed by it. Cities grow around big corporations like that,” Lucy said.

“So we just follow the money trail,” Gajeel said. “Right.”

But it appeared that following the money trail would be difficult. Mainly because there didn’t appear to _be_ any money.

Rural areas were often poorer than the cities they surrounded, so they weren’t particularly fazed to see run-down farmhouses dotting the landscape. But as they approached Dogwood, supposedly one of the larger cities in the region, the abandoned houses only increased in number. And when they got to the city itself, it felt like a ghost town.

“Damn, you come from a rough area,” Gajeel said to Juvia.

Juvia stared around her, wide-eyed, and Natsu could sense that something was up. In the past, when Juvia had talked about her hometown, she described a bright and vibrant place that contrasted her own overcast, dreary demeanor. Natsu absently wondered if they’d wandered into the wrong town; it didn’t fit the image from her stories at all.

“The homeless problem has grown a lot since Juvia lived here,” Juvia said finally, frowning as they passed another beggar. There were homeless pandering for change at nearly every corner, and they could see more sleeping on cardboard mats in alleys, belongings in torn bags scattered around them. Half the shops were abandoned, boarded up and populated by impoverished families that were probably squatting.

The more they saw, the more shaken Juvia became. Natsu had seen plenty of poor towns that had fallen on rough times, but from what Juvia said, this place had been a wealthy and thriving city only a decade ago.

They stopped to rest in the first open bar they found. The place was actually rather full. Scruffy bearded men sat at every table, drinking heavily even though it was the middle of the day.

“Looks like half the city is unemployed,” Lucy said.

Natsu nodded. Even for a poor town, this was a bit extreme.

There was a large section of unused seats at the bar, so they sat down and ordered some drinks, ready to relax after a long day of walking.

“Looks like this city’s fallen on hard times lately,” Gray said to the barkeep, taking a sip of his beer.

The barkeep made a face and picked up a mug. He began to clean it, slowly. “Yinz ain’t from Seven, are ya?” he said.

“Not really,” Gray said, “but our friend here grew up in this town. She says it hasn’t always been like this.”

Juvia nodded.

The barkeep looked at her and sighed. “It’s the Absolute Zero Conglomerate,” he said. “It’s taken over all the large businesses in the area, and in most of Seven for that matter. Lots of pay cuts and layoffs. Most the townsfolk around here lost their jobs, and those that still have one ain’t paid too well. The government is supposed to help out the poor, but they’re the actually the ones who encouraged all this. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if President Keyes is under his thumb, or if it’s the other way around.”

“Whose thumb?” Gajeel said.

“Did you say Keith?” Lucy said, startled.

“No, our president, President Keyes,” the barkeep said.

“Jeez, Lucy, I thought you would know these things,” Natsu teased.

“S-sorry, I just misheard…”

Gray frowned and turned back to the barkeep. “I’d like to know the same thing as Gajeel. Whose thumb is the president under that’s causing all this?”

“The CEO of Absolute Zero, of course. I’m surprised ya don’t know him already; he’s quite famous. But then again, yer foreigners.”

“His name,” Gray emphasized. “What’s the guy’s name?”

They finally got the answer they were looking for, and when they heard it, they were not at all surprised. It wasn’t a turn of events so much as confirmation of the obvious.

“Calm down, kid,” the barkeep said. “Alls of ya got no need to be so pushy.” He let out a breath and met Gray’s eyes. “The man causing all this goes by the name of Silver Fullbuster.”


	26. Chapter 26

“Silver Fullbuster,” Gajeel said, his eyes drifting to Gray. “That’s a familiar name.”

“That’s not possible,” Gray said, leaning forward on the bar. “Silver Fullbuster is dead.”

The barkeep furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t know why ya’d think that. He’s certainly been alive and kickin’ in Seven for five years now. He came outta nowhere, that man, and just took over everything right quick. Guess his name doesn’t get around much though, just the name of his company.”

“Absolute Zero does sound familiar,” Gajeel said. “They started out specializing in anti-magic weapons, right?”

“This kid knows it,” the barkeep said. “Ya’ll don’t hear about all this much in Fiore? It’s been the political situation here for years at this point.”

“We do hear things, but it must be very filtered,” Lucy said.

“Nobody wants to badmouth President Keyes,” the barkeep said. “I think it’s a bunch of superstitious nonsense, but some people think that badmouthing him brings back the vengeance of the dead. Probably because he looks like a skeleton. Nobody’s really sure what species he is, but he sure ain’t human, and you know how us humans can get about other races.”

Natsu frowned. That was pretty strange for a rumor, but if this president guy really did look like a skeleton, he supposed it did make sense. But with Silver Fullbuster apparently back from the dead and a conspiracy going on between the politician and the tycoon, they couldn’t rule out the possibility that something fishy was up with the two of them.

Lucy elbowed Natsu to get his attention. He leaned down so she could whisper into his ear. “Keyes sounds an awful lot like Keith, doesn’t it?” she said.

Natsu leaned back and looked at her. She’d misheard the barkeep the first time Keyes’s name was mentioned. But if Keyes was Keith, and Keith was a demon with the ability to raise the dead… But why Silver?

“Thanks for the info,” Natsu said. He slammed a few coins on the bar, a little extra included to pay for the information. “Come on, guys, let’s find a hotel. We’re gonna need a place to sleep tonight.”

They ended up at a shoddy inn, but it was clean and well-kept, and the owners were delighted to have guests. Apparently tourism was becoming scarce in this town, a fact that surprised no one.

“Lucy has a theory,” Natsu said the moment the innkeeper left the bunch of them alone in one of the rooms.

Lucy repeated her Keyes-Keith comparison, and said a lot of the same things Natsu had been thinking. They all agreed that something was suspicious. Juvia pulled out a communication Lacrima, and they called up Makarov at the guild to report their findings and get additional insight.

After hearing everything, Makarov sighed. “And to think I didn’t want to start an international incident. I didn’t realize I was sending you on a political assassination mission.”

“I can’t believe your sources didn’t help you make this connection on your own,” Gajeel said. “You might want to get some new informants when it comes to Seven.”

“I’ll say,” Makarov said. “That barkeep of yours knew a lot more than I was told. I’m sorry to have misled you like this.”

“Don’t worry about it, Gramps. What matters is that we have the information, so now what do we do with it?” Natsu said.

“I still don’t believe this Silver is my dead father,” Gray said. “What would my old man be doing as an industrial tycoon in Seven? And in Tartarus no less. He was killed by a demon, you know. I saw it with my own eyes, and I’ve remembered it clear as day ever since.” Tears were visibly welling up in his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall.

“I can’t tell you those answers,” Makarov said. “What I _can_ tell you is that a man named Silver and a man named Keith are working together to gather power in Seven without regard for the citizens, and they share their names with two members of Tartarus. This is a lead you need to keep pursuing. I won’t ask for an assassination, but at the very least we need more information. We need proof.”

“Juvia will get that proof,” Juvia said, speaking up for the first time in a while. Her eyes were set with a determined gaze. “Juvia will save her hometown.”

“Juvia…” Gray said, his frown deepening.

“I’ll be counting on you,” Makarov said. “That goes for all of you. Stay safe out there. Let’s end this now to save energy in the lacrima for your next report.”

“Understood,” Lucy said. “We’ll get back to you when we find something.”

The lacrima’s light flickered out, as did Makarov’s voice. Several of them let out long sighs, the tension in the room still palpable.

“This is intense,” Natsu said.

“It’s what we signed up for,” Gajeel said. “Anyone have any ideas?”

There was a round of silence as they all stared at each other nervously. None of them knew how to approach this. They were after the two most powerful men in a foreign country they hardly knew anything about; it wasn’t an easy job.

Slowly. Natsu raised his hand. “Once we see what this Silver guy’s house looks like, I could probably sneak us in there.”

“The security will be tight,” Gray said.

“I know. Just follow my lead when we get there; I’ll figure it out for sure.”

“So you want us to just waltz over there and follow you blindly as you make things up on the spot.”

“Have any better ideas?” Natsu said.

Gajeel crossed his arms. “You? Why should we rely on _you?”_ he said. “You’re not exactly Mr. Strategy.”

“I didn’t survive for years as a wanderer for no reason,” Natsu said. “Rich people are guaranteed good food and money, if you know how to get past their security.”

“You little thief,” Lucy accused, but she was laughing.

“Well, I’m glad your little self-imposed exile had some use. Don’t mess this up, Fire-Breath.”

“Like I need you telling me that, Minty Fresh.”

“We can definitely trust him on this. If Natsu says we should play it by ear, then that’s what we should do,” Lucy said. “Right, Juvia?”

Juvia, who was already smiling, nodded firmly. “Natsu is a man of his word. Juvia trusts him.”

“It’s decided, then,” Lucy said. “Any objections?”

Gray and Gajeel looked at each other. Gray shrugged.

“I don’t think of Natsu as being particularly sneaky—”

“More like a fucking bulldozer,” Gajeel added, to mild snickering.

“—but if he says he can stealth us into a rich guy’s mansion, he’s our best bet. But Natsu, if this guy really is Tartarus, it won’t be as easy as your average rich dude’s house. He’s a demon; he has curses on his side, and I’m sure he has his residence well-protected.”

“Like I said, we’ll see when we get there,” Natsu said.

“Where exactly is it, anyway?” Lucy said.

Juvia pulled out their map. “They said he was near here, up in these mountains,” she said, pointing to a small mountain range near their location. Natsu remembered seeing them over the Dogwood skyline when they were approaching the city, low mountains that seemed more like large hills.

“Do you know the best way to approach it?” Gajeel asked.

Juvia nodded. “Juvia used to go hiking up there when she was younger,” she said. “There was an old villa on this mountain here. He probably either renovated that villa or built a new mansion on this other mountain, which is the tallest. It would be easiest to defend from that location.”

When they got there the next day, they discovered the mansion so easily it was almost comical. Juvia was right about one thing: he’d built his house on the tallest mountain. Thing was, he’d shaved the entire top of the mountain flat in order to do so. It was a distinct disruption of the otherwise beautiful natural landscape, a bold statement of wealth and power. This Silver guy wasn’t exactly subtle.

“This was such a beautiful view,” Juvia said, eyes watery and sad as she gazed upon the familiar scenery. Lucy put an arm around her and patted her shoulder.

“So, that’s the main complex, right? He lives there?” Natsu said.

“The guy at the inn said Silver was in the area recently, so he might still be in there,” Gray said.

Natsu cracked his knuckles. “All right. I’m gonna scope the place out, so stay quiet and stay out of my way.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Gray droned sarcastically. But when it came down to it, they all obediently followed behind him as Natsu got to work.

It was boring work, quite frankly. He circled the house a few times, taking careful note of all the walls and gates that surrounded it. He spent a long time just feeling the ground, trying to detect any traces of magic or curses. Nothing. It was just like any ordinary rich person’s mansion, as far as Natsu could tell. A little unexpected given this was supposedly some supervillain lair, but Natsu wasn’t going to complain.

He found the servant’s entrance bustling with activity; the owner of the estate was definitely home.

“How’re we supposed to get in with all those servants?” Gray said, looking skeptical.

Natsu turned around and grinned. “Through the front door, of course!”

Rich people usually only stationed permanent guards at the front gates of their homes, if at all; the rest of the property was protected by a fence or wall. Of course, with magic, getting over such obstacles was a breeze. So long as they were quiet about it and weren’t spotted by any staff, getting inside the property was the easy part. Finding the desired target without crossing paths with a servant or ending up in the wrong place, well, that was the hard part.

Virgo dug a tunnel under the wrought iron fence for them all to enter through, and from there, Natsu could only use his instinct from years of practice to find his way around.

Luckily, most rich folks built their mansions alike. The architects who planned out these things put most of their creativity into the _look_ of the architecture rather than the overall layout of the building. It seemed there were some fairly consistent design standards as far as which rooms connected to where, which was good for petty thieves, Natsu included.

The first place for them to look would be Silver’s private quarters, or a hidden room attached to them, and that’s exactly what Natsu intended to find. If he managed to get the whole bunch of them through the mansion without being spotted first, that is.

“Happy, do a little scouting for me, will ya?” he said. “I don’t sense anyone, but can’t be too careful with all of us here.” He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. They’d managed to enter into what seemed to be the library through a low unlocked window, but now he had to get all six of them through the hallways without being spotted. Gajeel in particular was rather hard to hide.

“No one’s out there,” Happy reported after a quick foray into the hall. “It’s pretty quiet.”

“Good. Happy, you fly a little ahead of me. Gajeel, you have a good nose too, so you stay at the back to watch our tail. The rest of you, follow me.”

It felt a little strange calling the shots on a mission — usually that was the job of someone like Erza — but it was a good kind of strange. He was in charge. No getting bossed around. It was great.

Natsu followed his nose and his instincts to a basement-level room that connected directly to the master bedroom via a hidden door and a winding spiral staircase. The air seemed different here; it was a faint feeling, but it was a sure sign they were getting close to the center of demon activity in this estate.

How much further they had yet to go, Natsu had no clue. He was almost certain the master of the house was in, based on staff activity, but he had yet to actually sense the man’s presence. In fact, whatever lay beyond them seemed empty. Sharing a look with Gajeel, he confirmed that the other dragon slayer couldn’t sense anyone either. There must be another, deeper lair beyond this room. That was the only explanation.

“Wanny try some doors?” Natsu said, looking back at the others. There were two doors other than the one they came in from, both identical. Since he couldn’t sense anything beyond either of them, they had to find their next route by trial and error.

“Aye!” Happy said. “Let’s try the left door first!”

“Denied. My instincts say it’s on the right,” Gajeel said.

“You know your way around mansions? We’ve been following Natsu’s instincts this whole time, not yours,” Gray said.

“So? You tryin’ to start a fight?”

A sense of danger pinged close on Natsu’s radar, sudden as if appearing out of thin air. He barely had the time to ignite fires in each palm before a door opened ahead of them and a tall, broad-shouldered man with familiar black hair and eyes strode through.

Immediately the entire team was on edge. How neither dragon slayer had been able to sense this man before that very moment, Natsu didn’t know, but now this man who definitely looked like he could be Gray’s father was standing before them, smiling gently at a very shocked and suddenly very pale Gray.

The man didn’t seem at all surprised by their presence or intimidated by his guests’ fighting stances. If anything, he seemed amused.

“I was wondering when you’d come,” Silver said. “Now, let’s get started, shall we?”


	27. Chapter 27

They invaded Silver’s compound looking for a fight and some answers, but what they found instead was a friendly zombie with a plan.

“You don’t  _ look _ like you’re dead,” Natsu said, suspiciously poking Silver’s arm. They were seated on the floor in a wide circle; Natsu was the only one who dared get that close to the undead demon.

Silver rolled his eyes for probably the tenth time since he’d managed to calm the bunch of them down enough to convey that his desire to  _ not _ fight was genuine.

“Keyes has some interesting curses,” Silver said. “It’s pretty effective for bringing the dead back to life. The only thing different from when I was alive is that my life rests upon his will alone. Other than that, I’m good as new.”

“You still haven’t explained why you’re with Tartarus,” Gray said, sitting back at a safe distance. “My father wasn’t the kind of man who would willingly submit to that kind of demon.”

Silver smiled wryly. “It’s to be expected. I’m with them because I am useful, and helping them out is the only way to stay alive. Of course, I was ordered not to seek you out under any circumstances. But I hoped I’d still be able to see you by chance one day, so I did as I was told. Little did I know you’d actually come to me.”

“Is it okay for you to be not fighting us, then?” Lucy said.

“Not entirely, but I’m safe for now,” Silver said. “Keyes is in a meeting with Mard via lacrima. I was there for the first part and just got back.”

“So Keyes is here?” Gajeel said, standing up suddenly.

“Oh, no, we have teleportation lacrima that connect my headquarters here with a secret room in the presidential suite. I intend to send some of you over there shortly, before his meeting ends and he can end me. So long as I put on somewhat of a show over here in the meantime, he won’t notice if I’m holding back while I fight.”

“So many lacrima,” Gajeel scoffed. “Rich people.”

“How much exactly can he sense from you at any given time?” Lucy said, very clearly interested in this whole affair from an academic standpoint.

“Mm, it’s somewhat limited — it’s not like he can read my mind or anything — but it’s enough that he’d know if I decided to find Gray in Fiore, for example. He can sense my general location and the state of my body. He’s the one keeping this body running, after all. It belongs to him and his curses,” Silver said.

“So he’ll know you’re not fighting us.”

“Exactly. And given how worked up I am right now over seeing my son again for the first time in a decade, he’s sure to get some sense of my emotional state as well. He’ll know you’re here.”

“We’d better get going then,” Gajeel said. Still standing, he reached out a hand to pull Juvia to her feet. “Where’s this teleportation lacrima?”

“Just through that door, actually,” Silver said, pointing the door he came from. “Like I said, I only just returned.”

“D-Dad,” Gray said, “when we defeat Keith, what will happen to you?”

Silver grinned. “Smart boy. I’ll disappear, of course. It’d be useless of you all to waste your energy fighting me when killing Keyes, and I’d rather spend my remaining time with my son, so that’s why I’m helping you out. You all are lucky Gray’s with you. I trained myself in ice type demon-slaying magic; I wouldn’t be an easy opponent, not with my life on the line if you make your way to Keyes. But now that I’ve seen Gray again, I can let myself die happily.”

“Dad!”

Silver’s smile turned sad. “Sorry it has to be like this, Gray. You grew up well and found yourself some good friends. I’m glad.”

“Let’s get a move on,” Natsu said, jumping to his feet. He’d had enough of this sappy nonsense; it was time to kick some Tartarus ass.

“Right,” Lucy said. “Gray and Natsu, you stay here. Happy too.”

“Aye!”

Natsu paused. “Wait. Why me, too?”

“When we defeat Keith, Silver will disappear and Gray will be alone. We need someone to stay with him as support. And as backup just in case Silver has something up his sleeve.”

“Good idea, blondie,” Gajeel said. “I still don’t completely trust this guy. For all we know, that lacrima could be sending us straight into a trap.”

Silver smiled wanly. “Keyes mainly uses magic barrier particles. He’s pretty much made of the stuff. Be careful not to let any touch you. And while he prefers long-distance combat due to the nature of his curses, his physical strength isn’t to be trifled with either. He  _ is _ a Tartarus demon, after all. Make the battle quick; the longer you’re exposed to those particles, the more likely you are to become permanently infected with magic deficiency poisoning.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Gajeel said reluctantly.

“Natsu, you’re staying here,” Lucy ordered. “Gajeel, Juvia, let’s do this.”

Natsu whined, but he knew better than to disagree with Lucy’s plan. He trusted that between the three of them, they’d be able to take down a member of Tartarus just fine. He just wished he could do it along with them, instead of playing babysitter for Gray’s reunion with his undead dad.

He was about to plop back down again, but Silver swiped an arm out to trip him, sending him flat on his face.

“Want to spar?” Silver said, grinning.

Natsu scowled. “After that? You bet. I’m gonna kick your zombie ass.”

“Wait, Dad—”

“Don’t get too beat up while we’re gone,” Gajeel called as the others all went into the other room.

“You’re the one who should be worried, dumbass!” Natsu shouted back. The moment of distraction was enough for Silver to send him sprawling on his stomach again. “Dammit, cut it out!”

“Not sure why I should be worried. Gray doesn’t look too eager to fight me right now, and that talking cat doesn’t look too tough.”

“I’m plenty tough!” Happy protested.

“Yeah! He’s my partner! Don’t insult him!”

“So? Show me what you’ve got, then,” Silver said. He finally stood up and assumed a fighting stance. Natsu spared a glare at Gray — who was still uselessly sitting and staring with a dumb look on his face — before leaping forward, fists aflame.

Natsu very quickly figured out what magic— erm, what  _ curses _ the demonized Silver Fullbuster used.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Natsu droned. “Hey, Gray, looks like he really is your old man after all.”

“Oh? Does Gray use ice, too?” Silver said, interest piqued. Natsu used the opportunity to send him a Fire Dragon’s Roar to the face. Silver seemed unfazed.

“You’ve been alive this whole time and you still don’t know?” Gray said, arms crossed.

“Like I said, I wasn’t allowed to look for you. The most I found out was that you were alive and at a guild called Fairy Tail.”

“Yeah, I’m an ice mage,” Gray said. “I learned it in order to defeat the demon that killed my parents.”

“I was wondering what happened to that thing! I guess you succeeded, then?”

Gray got a funny look on his face that Natsu didn’t like, so he decided he’d had enough of this line of conversation. Less talk, more fight. There was no way he’d let Silver trip him twice and get away with it.

“Happy?”

“Aye!”

Paws pushed Natsu from behind and lifted him up, propelling him forward for an aerial foot to Silver’s face. Silver was knocked to the ground, his face squashed under Natsu’s heel. But that only lasted for a moment before Silver countered, and Natsu retreated back to a safe distance to prepare his next attack.

“Damn, that caught me off-guard,” Silver said, looking at Happy. “It’s not enough that thing can talk, but it flies, too?”

“Hey! Happy’s not a thing!” Natsu protested.

“Gray, your dad’s a meanie,” Happy whined.

“My bad, my bad. I’ve just never seen a talking, flying cat before,” Silver said.

“Gray, you just gonna stand there?” Natsu said.

Gray leaned back against the wall. “If he’s trying to help us as he says, we should be getting information from him. You can spar or whatever. I’ll ask questions.”

Silver smiled. “Fair enough. Fighting this little fire mage shouldn’t require too much of my focus. Ask away.”

“You might regret saying that,” Gray said as Natsu leapt forward again, new fury filling him at the latest round of patronization from Gray’s dad. “Natsu’s not that weak.”

“I don’t need you tellin’ him that,” Natsu grumbled, throwing a flaming fist at Silver’s head. Silver blocked the punch, so Natsu kneed him in the groin instead. “He can figure that out for himself.”

They quickly fell into a steady rhythm of exchanging blows as Silver answered Gray’s interrogation.

“Lucy said Mard Geer was going to use her to revive END. We know END is a demon of Zeref, but why is he doing that?”

“I don’t know either,” Silver said. “I think our master believes reviving END will lead to Zeref’s return. Tartarus demons are all Zeref’s, after all.”

“All demons are Zeref’s,” Natsu said.

“Tartarus is special,” Silver said. “Most of the demons you’ve been seeing aren’t from Zeref directly; they were created by members of Tartarus.”

“They’re demons created by other demons,” Gray said. “Then Tartarus was made by Zeref himself?”

“Corr— oof!”

Natsu cackled when his punch hit Silver square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him for a moment.

Silver coughed and stepped back to regain his breath. “Correct,” he finished. “Tartarus are Zeref’s words made flesh. They’re the living embodiment of spellbooks Zeref wrote long ago.”

“Don’t talk about him like he’s some god,” Natsu said.

“To the demons of Tartarus, he pretty much  _ is _ a god,” Silver said. “They were all experiments leading up to the creation of Zeref’s true masterpiece, END.”

“And they think if they can wake up END, Zeref will return to Ishgar.”

“Yes.”

“And you helped them.”

Silver didn’t respond. He refocused back on his skirmish with Natsu, sending ice to Natsu’s feet in order to render him immobile. Natsu broke free easily, which seemed to surprise Silver much more than seemed necessary. He really was underestimating Natsu’s abilities, wasn’t he? If Silver thought a little ice could hold him back, he had another thing coming.

Silver’s eyes bored into Natsu, and Natsu glared back. “Just now,” Silver said, “I could feel…”

“Dad,” Gray said, interrupting whatever Silver was about to say. “I won’t let them revive END. I won’t let your legacy be tarnished. I swear to you.”

Silver eyed Natsu a moment longer before turning to Gray with a sigh and a smile. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Gray hugged his father, the two of them holding each other close.

While Gray was oblivious to it, Natsu could tell that Silver had wanted to say something, and Natsu couldn’t shake the feeling that it was important. But he’d apparently changed his mind about saying it, because Silver’s eyes didn’t drift Natsu’s way again, even as he dissolved to dust in Gray’s arms.

His father gone, Gray collapsed to the ground, crying out in a way that was painful to hear. His screams of anguish ripped through the air. To lose a father twice…Natsu couldn’t even imagine how Gray felt at a moment like this. Natsu at least had hope his dad was still alive. Gray had naught but a crumbling skeleton.

But if Silver was gone, that meant the others had taken care of Keith and two less members of Tartarus were on the loose. Juvia’s town was saved. And Gray’s father was dead for a second time. The battle was won, but this victory didn’t taste sweet at all.

Gray was still shaking and crying when the others returned moments later. Juvia instantly rushed to his side, reaching to touch him but pulling back, uncertain. She ended up squatting next to him, looking on sadly and gently, offering silent company.

“Looks like he really was Gray’s old man,” Gajeel mumbled, crossing his arms.

“Aye,” Happy confirmed.

Lucy approached Natsu as well. “Is he okay?” she whispered.

“He’ll be fine,” Natsu replied. “Just give him a minute to let it all out.”

She nodded. “Poor Gray. Why do all these missions end up digging into his past like this?”

Natsu didn’t have an answer for that. In a sense, he was just glad it wasn’t him whose demons were coming back to haunt him, literally or figuratively. But it’s not like he wished this sort of thing on Gray either, no matter how much they butted heads.

As if they needed any more drama from Tartaros, a shimmering figure started to appear on the other side of the room. They all looked up in surprise as Mard Geer materialized in the room.

“Who’re—” Gajeel started, but Lucy was already speaking his name aloud.

“Mard Geer,” she said, voice low and hand on her keys. Natsu got into fighting position as well. Lucy, Gajeel, and Juvia just came back from winning a fight, and though they looked physically fine, Natsu could sense it had taken a toll on their bodies. If they were going to have to fight a third member of Tartaros today, Natsu needed to take the lead and let his teammates rest.

Mard Geer clicked his tongue at the group of them. “Really now, you’ve even made me use a personal long-distance teleportation lacrima. These aren’t cheap, you know.”

“What are you doing here?” Natsu growled.

“I came to clean up the mess,” Mard Geer said calmly. He glanced at Gray. “I’ve lost two valuable guildmembers today. And a country lost its president. You lot just don’t quit, do you?”

“How’d that skeleton guy manage to get elected anyway?” Gajeel said. “Demons shouldn’t be running human countries.”

Mard scoffed. “Read a newspaper,” he said. “Keyes was quite popular among the lower classes. Well, that was before he took office and we got Silver involved.”

All this while, Mard walked slowly toward where Gray and Juvia crouched protectively in front of Silver’s skeleton, a confident swagger in his hips and a loose hold on the book in his arms. If Natsu could just find an opening…

When Mard’s glance averted for a moment, Natsu saw his chance. He lunged forward, using the power of his fire to propel him even faster. A demon would have fast reflexes, so Natsu had to be faster.

Mard was only halfway to reacting when Natsu reached him and snatched the book away. Just like before, touching it gave him a burning sensation, but this time he was prepared. He gripped it tighter, pulling back so Mard couldn’t reach for the stolen book. Without the book, Tartaros’s would lose its purpose. And Fairy Tail could do a little research on the book of their own, to find a way to destroy it so Zeref could never be revived or summoned or whatever it was Mard was trying to do with the Book of END. With the book in Natsu’s possession, it was all over for Tartaros.

Those were Natsu’s thoughts, but reality was not so simple. Before Natsu could take off with the book in his possession, he found himself unable to move. It was as if his whole body became frozen. He couldn’t control his own muscles.

Surprisingly, though, Mard didn’t immediately grab the book back from Natsu’s motionless hand. And when Natsu, struggling, managed to look down at it, he figured out why. The markings on the book were glowing, if that was the word. Or the opposite of glowing. There seemed to be a darkness radiating from the book’s pattern, a darkness that mimicked the demonic tattoos slithering up Natsu’s right arm.

Natsu’s immediate reaction was to drop the book like he did the first time, reacting as if he’d touched a hot stove. But his mind and his body were not linked. Every fiber of his being was shrinking away from the book, but physically, he didn’t do more than perhaps tremble a bit. Something was wrong. And Mard looked just as surprised as Natsu, so this wasn’t his doing. What was going on?

Silver’s words from moments before returned to him:  _ “Just now, I could feel…” _ Had Silver felt something in him about END? No, it was impossible. Something like that...

After a beat of silence that felt like an hour, Mard swiped the book away from Natsu and the demonic tattoos faded. Natsu stared at his arm, stunned. He couldn’t believe what just happened. This couldn’t be right.

“Well,” Mard said, recovering his composure. His body started to flicker with the telltale signs of teleportation. As he disappeared, his words pierced Natsu like bullets. “We can continue this later. I believe I have found the way to revive END after all,  _ Etherious Natsu Dragneel _ .”


	28. Chapter 28

"Fuck." Natsu stormed into the hotel room, slamming the door behind him. "Fuck everything." He kicked a wall, not enough to break it but enough to rattle the lamp it held, and flung himself onto the couch.

It had only been for a second, and then the tattoo vanished. Not a moment after Mard Geer disappeared with the book, Natsu had run away from the shocked stares of his friends. He could hardly contain how upset he was by this. The ultimate demon Tartarus was trying to resurrect, the demon even his own father had failed to destroy, was none other than Natsu himself. And he had to find out in front of everybody. In front of Lucy.

Speaking of Lucy, his ears picked up the sound of her picking the lock. He should've known that not having the room key wouldn't stop her from following him all the way to the inn. She was stubborn like that.

"Lucy, don't," he said, loudly, but it was too late. The door swung open, and Lucy strode in, quietly closing it behind her. She sat down next to him on the couch.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He looked at her with dead eyes. Did he really look like he was okay? Would _anyone_ be okay after what he'd just experienced?

"I guess that's a silly question," Lucy amended, looking sheepish.

"I could feel it," Natsu said. He looked down at his palms. "That moment when the tattoo appeared, I could feel this…hatred."

"END," Lucy said to herself.

Natsu nodded. "I— I never felt it inside of me before, but after that, I _can_. I can tell there's something here. It was only awakened for a moment, but I can still feel it stirring, I can…" He cut himself off, putting his head in his hands and pulling at his hair. He wanted to tear it out. He needed to destroy something, anything—

"Natsu. Natsu!"

He stopped. Her hand rested gently on his shoulder, and he couldn't even bring himself to look up. So instead, she bent down and put her face in front of his, eyes reassuring.

"Natsu. You're fine. It's going to be okay."

He looked at her, forlorn. It felt like his chest was in pain, but he knew he was uninjured. "No, Lucy, it's not."

"You're fine now."

"No."

"Nothing happened. You're okay."

He stood up and shouted, "How can you say nothing happened?"

She shrank back.

"Sorry," he said, sitting back down. "I'm just a little on edge."

Lucy smiled a little. She took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb along the backs of his fingers. "I understand."

His eyes met hers, and that familiar yearning bloomed in his chest. Everything was going wrong, but she was still here, and right now he needed that reassurance. Every part of him seemed drawn toward her. To the feeling of her hand in his and her other hand resting on his arm. To the kindness in her eyes. To safety.

Her lips parted, slowly. "Natsu, you know, I—"

He unconsciously licked his lips, and whatever she was about to say died on her tongue. Her eyes glanced down at his mouth, then back up.

The tension in the air had already been thick, but now it almost seemed tangible.

Slowly, hesitantly, he leaned forward. He watched carefully as her eyelids drooped and her head tilted ever so slightly to the right. Green light.

Natsu's heart hammered in his chest as Lucy grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and his own hands found their way around her back to clutch at the frayed edges of her halter-top. Fire thrummed in his veins. Lucy's lips were soft, and warm.

It was she who pulled back first. "Natsu…" she breathed. She relaxed her arms around his neck, letting out a long breath. The sensation of her fingers trailing down the back of his neck sent a pleasant shiver up Natsu's spine. Her eyes flickered up at the movement.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I don't know why, but when I'm with you, I—" He choked on the words. Suddenly he felt like he was going to cry.

"You can tell me," she said gently, brushing her fingers through his hair. She pushed his bangs from his eyes and looked into them earnestly. "Hm?"

He glanced away, heat rising to his cheeks. "Gods, this is embarrassing," he muttered.

Lucy suddenly hugged him, pressing her body against his in a way that had his heart rate spiking again. "I know you have a hard time talking about these things," she said. Her fingers curled against his back. "But I'm here, you know. I'm listening. I care. You can trust me."

Natsu rested his cheek on the top of her head. "I know," he said. He thought back to that conversation with Erza; it felt so long ago now, but he still hadn't done as he was instructed. He couldn't put it off any longer. There were things Lucy deserved to know before things went any further.

He took Lucy's shoulders and pushed him away from her. He turned, sitting forward on the couch. He couldn't look at her.

"First," he said, "there is something I need to tell you."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucy nod and mimic his seating position. "Okay," she said.

"I need to tell you about…about Lisanna." His tongue almost tripped over the name. It was still so hard to talk about, after all this time. But he had to force himself. No more secrets.

"Who's Lisanna?" Lucy asked.

"She was my best friend."

"But she's not anymore?"

Natsu shook his head, tears springing to his eyes. He fought them back. "No. She died. And it was my fault."

There was a pause. "Tell me about it," she said. Her voice was gentle.

"She was Mirajane and Elfman's sister," Natsu began. "She was the first one to say hi to me when I joined Fairy Tail. We were best friends growing up. We…we were childhood sweethearts, I guess. But then one day—"

"One day?" Lucy prompted.

Natsu swallowed the lump in his throat. "We went on a job, see. Me, Lisanna, and Elfman. It was just supposed to be his job, but I insisted on tagging along, and Lisanna came with me. He tried to get us to stay in Magnolia, but I thought I was strong enough to go, too."

"Were you?"

"Maybe," Natsu said, "but Lisanna wasn't. I'm a dragon slayer so my stamina is better than most people with my level of training, but Lisanna was just a normal mage. And we were both too young to go on jobs by ourselves, which was why I wanted to tag along with Elfman."

"You wanted to prove yourself."

"Exactly."

"People die on jobs sometimes, don't they?" Lucy said. "Just because she was following you doesn't mean you killed her."

"Well, it's a little more than that," Natsu said. He clenched his hands. "That guy with the cursey doll. It wasn't him, but someone with the same doll, a brother or partner maybe."

"Oh. I remember that."

"Yeah. Lisanna and I were just kids, but we both had magic so we fought as backup for Elfman, I guess. But when I went in for a punch once, he must've gotten a strand of my hair because next thing I knew, I couldn't control my own body.

"At first it was just what you'd expect; he twisted me in ways my body didn't naturally go, and aimed a bunch of punches at Elfman. But then he decided to go after Lisanna. Using me."

Lucy nodded along, listening intently. Guilt began to settle in. He should've told her about all this a month ago when she'd confided in him about her own demons; he'd procrastinated this talk for so long it almost felt surprising she didn't already know by now. But _he_ was the reason she didn't know. He was such a coward.

He told her everything. About his panicked mind trapped inside a body it couldn't control. About Lisanna, and how she struggled underneath him. About Elfman, about how he'd gotten to Natsu too late to save his sister. About how, by the time they got her to a healer, she was already dead.

As he finished his story, he couldn't look at Lucy. He was afraid he'd turn around and see horror in her eyes.

There was a long silence.

"It must've been hard to live with that," Lucy said finally.

An unexpected response. Usually people's first reaction was to tell him not to blame himself.

He told her as much.

"Well of course it's not your fault," Lucy said. "But I know what it's like to blame yourself for something nobody thinks is your fault. And it's hard. The fact that you know you shouldn't be blaming yourself just makes you feel even worse."

"For me, it's the fact that nobody else blames me that makes me feel worse," Natsu said. "She literally died by my hands. And yet, they keep telling me it's not my fault, that I was helpless in that situation. And you know what? Maybe I was. But that doesn't make it any less my fault that it happened the way it did."

"Is this what you meant when you said you weren't free?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah," Natsu said. "I've spent the last couple years staying away from Magnolia as much as possible. I only visit for a day or two. Before I took you there, I hadn't been back in two months."

She sat up straight. "Wait, you made me eat two-month-old bread?" she exclaimed.

Natsu laughed. "Nah, it wouldn't still be that clean if it was two months old. Probably more like two weeks. Mira drops off food sometimes."

"That's nice of her."

"She worries too much."

"You all have been together since you were young, so of course she'd worry and care."

"They're just putting on a brave face. After I killed her, Mira and Elf couldn't even look at me for months."

"But they still love you. You're guildmates. Aren't all guildmates like family?"

Natsu had a sudden though of how nice it would be to become family with Lucy. Not guild family, real family. But that was a sinful thought that he could never say out loud.

So instead he snuggled into the crook of her neck, letting her hold him, thumb tracing circles on his bicep and chin tucked over the top of his head. Here like this, he could faintly hear the sound of her heart beating even faster than his. He smiled. Maybe someday, many months from now, he would ask Lucy to be his family. But for now, he was just happy she listened to his story. All else could come after.

"Natsu."

He shifted. "Hm?"

"We'll work through this together. This END thing, I mean. You have your friends by your side, and I'm here too. We won't let anything bad happen to you."

"Can I kiss you again?"

He heard her heart rate increase instantly. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him to arm's length so she could plant a chaste kiss on his lips. "I'm glad I found you that night. I never would have imagined I'd actually make friends, let alone what I have with you. But no more secrets, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled.

"So?"

"So…?"

"You said 'first' before. What's second?"

"Oh. That." He fidgeted, embarrassed. "It's just, I put off telling you about it for so long, so before we got any closer, I needed to tell you. Last time I liked a girl, I killed her."

Lucy seemed to get where his trepidation came from. "The cursey doll is destroyed, as is the last person who used it. You made sure of that. What happened with Lisanna will never happen again. And no matter what this whole END thing means, I have my spirits looking out for me."

"Loke would probably beat me up even if it did happen again," Natsu said.

"Exactly. So don't worry about me," Lucy said.

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. He knew Lucy wouldn't leave him over something like this, but that small insecure part of him had been so terrified. Now that that part of him had been proved wrong, it was a huge relief. She didn't hate him. She knew about it, and she didn't hate him.

Now they both knew each other's deep, dark secrets. Come to think of it, both of their secrets involved them killing someone. After today's events, it looked like Natsu had one more secret to bring to light, but the whole END thing was something even he didn't know about himself. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, either.

Lucy's forehead pressed into his shoulder for a moment before she sat up straight again. The touch pulled him from his thoughts.

"Natsu," she said, her tone trailing upwards in that cheerful way of hers.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Heat rose to his face. _Oh._ They were calling it love already? Not that Natsu minded, of course. Love had many forms, and the fondness they felt for each other was certainly one of them.

"I love you more," he mumbled, trying not to grin like an idiot.

Lucy scolded him for that. "It's not a contest," she said, but she was smiling even wider than he was. Her hand found its way to his and their fingers twined together. "I love you. We've been through a lot together since meeting each other, and you're my best friend. If I didn't like you, I'd tell you, so stop listening to whatever part of you is telling you I'd hate you over something like this and just trust in my feelings for you. Okay?"

Natsu nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

Was this level of happiness even allowed? After the earth-shattering revelation that he was the END Tartaros was trying to revive, this kind of emotional euphoria ought to be illegal.

But it just felt so right. One sadness balanced by one happiness. Granted one had the potential to wipe out the entire continent, but at this moment, the gravity of the two seemed equal. He was just _so happy_.

Lucy slowly withdrew her hand from his. "Let's go back to the others," she said. "They'll be worried."

"Can't we just wait until they come here instead?" Natsu said, putting an arm around Lucy's waist to pull her closer and prevent her from leaving the couch. She met his eyes, and next thing he knew, their faces were close again, her forehead leaning against his. Their noses lightly brushed each other, and Natsu wondered how many more times he'd have to kiss her to be satisfied.

"Fine," she said, closing her eyes as she leaned into him. "Just a little longer."

"Mm."

"We really do have to talk about what happened."

"Mm."

"Are you even listening to me?"

He met her eyes and smirked. "Mm."

Laughing, she pushed his shoulder in mock irritation only to have her smile captured by his lips. If ignorance was bliss, then he was going to let himself be blissful for a little while longer.


	29. Chapter 29

_ Two weeks later, Magnolia, Fairy Tail Tavern: _

Mira returned from the back room with a note in her hand and a grim expression. “Seven dead from demons in Shirotsume.”

Natsu banged his fist on the bar. “Damn.”

“Blue Pegasus did their best,” Mira said gently. “The deaths occurred before they arrived.”

“Not saying they didn’t, but for seven people to die before anything could even be done…”

“If only we could put an end to the scourge of demons entirely,” Lucy said, propping her head up with one hand. “I always thought the presence of demons was an inevitable mystery, but now that we have a lead, I just want them stopped.”

“Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale will be able to join us shortly for a joint attack on Tartarus,” Mira said. “Master’s out at a meeting to organize it as we speak. We just need to hold out until then. Humanity has survived centuries of demon attacks; another two weeks is no problem.”

“Still…” Lucy bit her lip. Natsu reached a hand over to rub circles on her back with his thumb. They were all feeling impatient having to wait around in Magnolia after all they found out from Silver, but Makarov made them promise not to go off fighting without waiting for backup. And while Natsu was never one to make promises, once one was made, he never broke it.

He could feel Mira’s eyes on him as she bustled about the bar while he and Lucy discussed the latest demon appearances. A lot had changed since he first brought Lucy here, and he couldn’t be sure which change Mira was responding to: his growing relationship with Lucy, or the awakened presence of END within his consciousness.

Few people at Fairy Tail knew about the whole END business, but if anyone would be able to detect it, it would be Mira with her demon takeover magic. She was retired from fighting, but Natsu seriously doubted that her sharp senses could ever get rusty. She was too powerful of a mage for that.

“How are you holding up, Mira?” Lucy asked when Mira had a spare minute. Evergreen had appeared at the guild the day before, a heavily injured Bixlow in one arm and Freed unconscious in the other. They’d gotten injured using their bodies to shield Laxus during a surprise demon attack. Laxus had sent Evergreen to bring them to the guild for healing, which meant he was out fighting demons alone until she could get back to him.

“Worried,” she said. “I know Laxus can handle himself, but I don’t like it when he works without backup. And Freed finally woke up, but his head injury is pretty severe. He’ll be fine in time, but…”

“Hang in there,” Lucy said gently, placing a hand over Mira’s. Mira smiled in response.

The guild door slammed open. “Mira! I need the strongest beer you’ve got. Now.”

Natsu looked back in surprise at Cana striding in covered in dirt and scrapes, her already skimpy top torn and practically falling off her shoulders. Jet and Droy made teasing catcalls from a nearby table. She flipped them off.

“What happened to you?” Lucy said as Cana sat down by them at the bar.

“Erza happened,” Cana grumbled. “That idiot Gray made her mad and I was an unfortunate bystander who got caught in her fury. Why he can’t just keep his mouth shut, I have no clue. He has zero self awareness.”

“He’s normally careful with his words, but he can really be careless at times,” Mira said, hauling an entire barrel of beer up onto the bar. Cana immediately started guzzling it.

“Here, wear my jacket for now,” Lucy said, shrugging off her celestial garment and hanging it on Cana’s shoulders. It quickly fell off, as she was too busy chugging an entire barrel of alcohol, so Lucy picked it up and held it in waiting. When Cana put the barrel down to catch her breath, Lucy threaded Cana’s arms through the arm holes, covering her up as much as possible.

“Thanks,” Cana said before letting out a long, loud burp. “So,” she said, leaning against the bar with a wicked look in her eyes. “What’re you two lovebirds up to?”

Lucy sputtered, embarrassed by the unexpected turn of conversation.

“Lucy, why’re you so red?” Natsu said, hoping his feigned obliviousness would diffuse her anxiety in favor of irritation.

Indeed, it worked. “Shut up, Natsu. And Cana, if you have so much free time, why don’t you go help Laxus?”

“I could say the same to you,” Cana said, taking another long swig. “Besides, it’s been a day. He’ll be rushing back with Evergreen any minute now.”

“I hope he comes quickly,” Mira said with a smile. “I miss him.”

“You two never used to get along growing up, and now look at you,” Cana said.

“We were both different as kids,” Mira said. “Back then I felt like a mother nagging her unruly teenager, but we both changed. I stopped trying to rule over everyone, and he started opening up a little.”

“I can’t imagine you being naggy,” Lucy said. “You’re so nice!”

Cana hummed. “She was less of a nag and more of a...dominatrix?”

Mira smiled coyly. “Come on now, don’t say it like that; you’ll give her the wrong idea.”

“What wrong idea?” Cana deadpanned.

Natsu interrupted the conversation. “Whatever is the case, I don’t want to know,” he said.

“That’s right, Natsu’s bad with this stuff,” Cana said, fist-bumping his shoulder affectionately. “Oh, a somewhat related topic. You and Gray haven’t been fighting since you came back, I noticed. He won’t tell me anything, but it’s pretty obvious something’s up. That fight with Erza too, he was being unusually snippy with her. Did something happen on your mission? We don’t want to push the subject too much, but...”

“Cana’s right. Everyone’s been worried,” Mira said.

Natsu exchanged a look with Lucy. Things had been awkward between the two of them thanks to the END reveal. Gray had  _ just _ promised his dad he’d stop Tartarus from reviving END, and turns out Natsu was actually END, or had END living inside of him, or whatever the case was. They were still trying to figure out the specifics before telling the others. But those who’d been there to witness Natsu making this discovery obviously knew there was some sort of connection, and Gray was the one who’d taken it worst.

Natsu sighed. They’d probably have to tell Mira soon anyway so she could help them figure out what exactly Natsu’s relationship with END was, so he might as well stop hiding it from her. And Cana was close with Gray, so she’d be able to be an emotional support for whatever conflicted feelings Gray was having.

“Let’s go into the back room,” Natsu said, standing up.

Lucy stared at him. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “We could use some outside opinions. I’m sure Makarov would agree if he were here.”

“True. It’s not like he’ll get mad, since it’s Mira,” Lucy said.

“You about to tell us some top secret stuff?” Cana asked as they headed into the back room.

“Pretty much,” Natsu said. “It’s also a personal issue.” He led them to a part of the back room they used sometimes for meetings. Makarov’s office was the ideal location for private meetings, of course, but the rest of them used this little corner of the back room hidden by cardboard boxes and protected with a rune Freed regularly updated.

Natsu hopped onto a barrel and swung his legs. “Mira might already have figured part of this out,” he said, “but the gist of it is, I might be Zeref’s ultimate demon.”

Lucy recapped what happened on their mission, Natsu adding in his first-hand perspective as needed. While Cana seemed completely flabbergasted, Mira listened to it all intently, lips pursed and brows furrowed.

“You should’ve consulted me sooner,” Mira said. “I can find out the situation quickly if I use my takeover.”

“That’s exactly why Makarov said  _ not _ to consult you yet,” Lucy said. “It’s dangerous. I think he’s worried about you, too.”

“I can come out of retirement whenever I choose,” Mira said. “I think this is a big enough incident for me to use my magic again.”

“No,” Natsu said. “Dont.”

“Just let her help,” Cana said.

“No, Natsu’s right,” Lucy said. “We don’t want to accidentally accelerate END’s awakening. That’s exactly what Tartarus would want.”

Mira frowned, clearly in disagreement. “I’d say it’s worth the risk, but it’s your body, Natsu.”

“I don’t want you to use takeover, but...do you sense anything? Like, has my aura changed or something?” Natsu said.

Mira shook her head. “I couldn’t tell anything at all. But you know–” She raised a finger and smiled. “–that just means that you are completely human. Whether you have a dormant demon inside you or are partially demonic yourself, that part of you is completely absent at the moment. I’ll bet if those markings ever appear again, I’d be able to sense something. So keep an eye out for them, okay?”

Natsu nodded. “Of course.”

“Thanks, Mira,” Lucy said.

“And don’t worry about Gray,” Cana said. “I’ll talk to that idiot. He’s bottling things up again, as usual.”

“That’d be great,” Lucy said. “I think Juvia’s at a loss for what to do at this point.”

“Poor girl picked a really difficult man to love,” Cana said, sighing.

“We’ve all got our issues,” Lucy said. “Gray’s just had it the hardest lately.”

“He really can’t catch a break, can he?” Cana said. “Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll knock some sense into ‘im. Can’t have him moping around forever with demons all over the place.”

“Thank you for telling us, Natsu. This is really difficult for you, too,” Mira said.

Natsu nodded tersely.

 

Natsu couldn’t sleep well that night, too fraught with worry over what all of this could mean. If Mirajane the Demon couldn’t sense anything wrong with him, that was a good thing, right? But it also meant they were in the dark until something happened. The confirmation of just how little they knew was only amplifying his anxiety.

He woke up in the morning exhausted but strangely comfortable. He opened his eyes, vision hazy. Right in front of him was Lucy’s face.

He was instantly awake, and his mind frantically tried to remember how this situation came to be. He was...on the floor? He was resting against Plue’s huge body just like Lucy always did, one hand gripping Lucy’s as if his life depended on it and the other arm draped over her waist. Happy lay sprawled between them. His ears priced up when he heard Natsu shifting.

“Good morning,” Happy said with a yawn.

“Morning,” Natsu mumbled.

“Feeling okay?”

“Mm. Yeah. Not sure how I ended up here though.”

“You were having a nightmare. Holding your hand and stuff seemed to help, but Lucy had to stand to reach you in your hammock, so she carried you over here instead.”

Natsu’s ears felt hot. He didn’t remember this at all. 

Happy snickered, watching him blush. “You were hugging her suuuuper tight and whimpering a lot,” he drawled.

Natsu ground a fist into the top of Happy’s head. “Shut up.”

“Embarrassed?”

“Stupid cat.”

“You sound like Lucy.”

Speaking of Lucy, if what Happy said was true, she must be exhausted. Natsu slowly sat up and extracted his hand from hers. He grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over her to replace his body heat. She stirred, but didn’t wake.

He went downstairs to start breakfast for Happy and him. For some reason it always surprised people that he was a good cook. Just because he acted carelessly didn’t mean he couldn’t feed himself, especially given how enormous his appetite was. He had fine control over his fire, and with his heightened senses, he was also a precise hunter. So if anything, he always cooked meat to perfection. 

Soon he was chowing down on a pile of sausage and bacon, while Happy happily tore apart a freshly-caught fish. He’d have to go to the butcher again in the morning, or maybe take a longer hunting trip to find some big game; Happy’s fish was always easy to catch from the nearby stream, but he was running low on red meat.

Lucy didn’t like to eat much in the morning, but a slice or two of bread was always the perfect amount for her. So when he heard signs that Lucy had woken up, he got up from his own breakfast to make some toast. She came down already dressed and placed her key holder on the table to free up both hands to tie up her usual side ponytail.

“Good morning,” Lucy said.

“Good morning,” Happy replied.

“Happy told me about you helping me out last night,” Natsu said. “Thanks.”

“Of course. Do you not remember anything?”

Natsu shook his head. “Not at all. I must’ve been asleep the whole time. I remember worrying about stuff as I fell asleep, and then when I woke up I was on Plue.”

Lucy smiled a bit and sat down to eat the toast laid out for her. “He’s pretty comfy, isn’t he?”

“I can see why you don’t mind sleeping on the floor,” Natsu said, grinning.

“Well, you’re welcome to join me on the floor anytime if you need it.”

“I hope I won’t need it. I’ve had plenty of nightmares, but never enough to make me cry out in my sleep like that. Happy can attest to that.”

“Aye!”

“And it’s weird that I don’t remember anything. I don’t really remember my dreams, but I almost always remember nightmares.”

Lucy frowned. “Might be a demon thing? We should get Mira to check it out.”

“If it happens again, I will,” Natsu said. “The END thing happened weeks ago and there weren’t any changes until now. I’m not sure it’s related.” It was true that Natsu usually remembered nightmares and that he didn’t outwardly show any signs except for a cold sweat and heavy breathing once he was awake, but until now his nightmares were always about Lisanna. And before Lisanna, they were always about Igneel. Natsu hadn’t had a dream about Lisanna since the END incident, which might mean the subject of his nightmares had changed again. And if the subject changed, then maybe it was only natural that the way they affected him changed, too.

Natsu wondered what Igneel would think if he knew about all this. Natsu’s priorities lay with stopping Tartarus right now, but his chest ached a little as his father came to mind for the first time in a while.  _ Sorry, Pops. I’ll look for you again soon. Wait for me. _

A faint rumble in the distance shook Natsu from his thoughts. He leapt to his feet.

“What was that?” Happy said, fur standing on end.

“It came from the direction of Magnolia.”

“Let’s go,” Lucy said, shoving the remainder of the toast into her mouth. She stood up and grabbed her keys in one swift motion, then she was out the door. Natsu and Happy weren’t far behind.

Soon they were at the edge of the woods, looking over the field that separated them from Magnolia. Clouds of dust rose from various parts of the city, citizens fleeing to the outskirts. Someone saw them standing there and shouted for them to return to the woods and hide. 

They’d taken too long planning their attack; Tartarus had come to them first. Magnolia was under attack.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hello it's been like two years. ....oh, it's only been one and a half? Cool, cool. 
> 
> Life update for those curious about what's going on behind the scenes here. I've been working on this story on and off since the last update, mostly off (like 99.5% off), and I figured it's about time to get back to posting. Did I not promise to finish this story no matter how long it took? It's just uhh...taking a REALLY long time. Anyone who's read my author notes on my YoI fics will be disappointed to hear that I am STILL essentially unemployed :D Going on a year now....it's exhausting. I hardly have the energy to write anymore, but this chapter has been sitting around waiting to be posted this whole time so I might as well get it out there. Next chapter is mostly done. Then lots more bits and pieces. The reason it's taking so long is because I'm awful at fight scenes and such, and the majority of what's left is the main battle sequence. I know what my goals are for the fights, but the actual act of writing it is very difficult. I'll get there. Very, very slowly, as I have been. I WILL finish. Eventually. In the meantime, here's the next chapter.
> 
> A recap for old readers who probably don't remember what this story is even about anymore....again:
> 
> After figuring out who some of the Tartaros members are, they went to Seven and defeated two of them, including Gray's dad. Natsu got the revelation that he somehow has END inside of him. He finally told Lucy about what happened with Lisanna as a kid, so that's off his chest. The gang just got back from Seven to debrief after a tough mission, and now suddenly Magnolia seems to be under attack...?

The air approaching the guild was heavy with dust. Lucy had her nose pressed into the frills of one of her sleeves, the other arm shielding her eyes against the thick haze of debris that hung in the air. Natsu let her take the lead as they made their way into the crumbled guild unimpeded.

“Erza!” Lucy cried. The guild was in shambles, but they’d cleared the bar of debris to turn it into one long makeshift clinic bed. Wendy, with Charle’s assistance, was frantically attending to the citizens seeking medical attention. Erza was in the very center of the chaos, Elfman standing guard beside her covered in bandages. She was unconscious.

“It’s Tartarus. My sister took over for her,” Elfman said, a protective hand on Erza’s shoulder. “There’s two demons. You should go help.”

“Is she okay?” Lucy asked urgently.

“She’s sleeping. She was alone when the demons came, and they seemed to have been torturing her before they started attacking the rest of the city. We had no idea they were even here until everything got knocked down. A bunch of us went to help Erza, but in the end we had to bring her out of the fight.”

“They tortured her?” Lucy exclaimed in horror. 

Natsu scowled. Knowing Erza’s past, the torture must have brought back a lot of bad memories. No wonder she was exhausted to the point of sleeping.

He felt grew angrier the longer he saw Erza lying bruised and vulnerable like this. Erza was strong. She was supposed to be strong. Erza enjoyed having a dominant attitude, and it suited her. Natsu loved the strong Erza. Anyone who cracked Erza’s armor would have to pay the price.

“Lucy,” he said.

She nodded, not needing a word of explanation. “Let’s go. A little backup could never hurt.”

“My sister’s been retired for years; this can’t be easy on her body,” Elfman said. “She insisted on staying to fight in Erza’s place, but I’m worried.”

“We’ll make sure she’s all right,” Natsu said. “I promise. You stay here and get your injuries healed.”

“Good luck.”

Elfman pointed them in the direction of the fighting and the three of them took off.

“Happy, fly me up,” Natsu ordered. “We need to see where exactly it is.”

“You can go ahead of me,” Lucy said. “I’ll catch up soon. I can already hear it, so I won’t be long.”

“Got it. Happy, let’s go!”

“Aye!”

A few blocks away, chaos awaited them. Fairy Tail mages clashed with Tartarus’s henchmen. Happy released Natsu at the perfect angle to land on one who was trying to sneak up on Jet from behind.

“Watch your back,” Natsu shouted over the din, grinding the henchman’s face into the dust for good measure. He was definitely unconscious after a hit like that, but you could never be too safe.

Jet knocked out his opponent, then backed up to catch his breath. “You made it. Quite a scene, huh?”

“Where’s Mira? Elfman’s worried.”

“She’s in the church with the Etherious,” Jet said, indicating the large stone edifice that stood alone among the rubble of all the weaker wood-and-plaster buildings that surrounded it. “One can manipulate your senses, the other’s telekinetic.”

“Thanks.” He used Happy’s flying abilities again to get a look into the church from the outside. His vision was warped by the rippled stained glass, but he could clearly see Mirajane and Gray fighting two other figures. Only Mira and Gray. Everyone else was out here fighting the henchmen, even Gajeel, which Natsu found odd.

No matter. With a signal to Happy, Natsu crashed through the window, fists blazing. His surprise attack sent one of the demons sliding backwards, but they otherwise looked completely unaffected. How annoying.

“Took you long enough,” Gray said.

Natsu glanced over. Gray’s expression seemed back to normal, so maybe talking to Cana really had helped. That or Gray had better things to worry about at the moment, such as the two demons he was fighting.

“Just you two in here? From what I heard, these guys weren’t  _ that _ weak,” Natsu said.

Gray grimaced. “Well, the one with the horns has a rather scary talent. Mira and I are the only ones unaffected for some reason.”

“She the pain one?”

“No, telekinesis. It works on people, too.”

“Well shit.”

“Who are you?” the horned woman said, stalking toward Natsu and Gray while her fellow demon exchanged blows with Mira.

“Me? I’m the one who’s gonna beat you up,” Natsu said, lighting his arms on fire again. Time to get this over with.

“I can’t control you either. How irritating, the whole lot of you,” she sighed.

“Seilah, focus,” ordered the other demon, calmly, as if she wasn’t even breaking a sweat against Mira. Mira looked to be in a lot of pain, too. Was it okay to let her fight this demon alone?

“Yes, Madam Kyouka,” Seilah said, her frustrated expression vanishing. She raised her arms, and the remnants of church pews lifted off the ground, floating around her. “If we destroy this building, won’t that little one’s enchantment also break?”

Natsu looked at Gray. “Levy?” She and Freed always used to teach each other bits of spells, since their magics were both based on written words.

Gray nodded. “Demonic energies are unable to leave the church’s perimeter. Gajeel’s protecting her while she keeps up the barrier.”

Wooden shards crashed into the stone walls, making the building tremble but ultimately causing no damage. Wood was nothing against stone.

“Hmph, how useless,” Seilah said, pouting. “Looks like I might have to enter my Etherious form.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I have a feeling I shouldn’t let you,” Gray said.

“Hm? You’re speaking to me?” Seilah laughed. “Foolish humans. You don’t have the right to ‘let’ or ‘not let.’ Silver may have been foolish enough to give you demon slaying powers, but even demon slayers are inferior to the power of Tartarus.”

“Leave Gray’s old man out of this,” Natsu said, leaping toward Seilah to land a flying punch into her gut. She sputtered and stumbled backwards.

“Don’t touch me,” she snarled. “It disgusts me.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to do it again,” Natsu said, running forward once more.

“Only Madam Kyouka can touch me!” Seilah shouted, leaping out of the way and slamming a heavy tabernacle into the back of Natsu’s head using her telekinesis. His head spun for a moment, and when his vision returned to normal, Gray was already advancing on her, cutting his way through the flurry of flying debris the demon had surrounded herself with.

Natsu dusted himself off and rejoined the fray. He blasted balls of fire, and soon the entire area surrounding Seilah was in flames.

“You’re making it worse!” Gray shouted, dodging a burnt book.

Natsu laughed. “But look how irritated she is!”

On the inside of the sphere of debris, Seilah was absolutely fuming. Without warning, the debris flew away from her all at once. Natsu caught one and immediately charged in, brandishing a flaming piece of pew like an axe. But before his hit could land, Seilah was engulfed in a miasma of darkness, her silhouette shifting.

Natsu backed up while they waited to see what this transformation would bring. “Oh. My bad.”

“Good going, Natsu. She’s probably going into her Etherious form, which probably means she’ll be that much stronger.”

“Didn’t you get some of your dad’s demon slaying abilities? That magic was  _ made _ for battling Etherious. Or are you too weak to handle it?”

“That’s not the point,” Gray said, letting out a frustrated sigh. Then he suddenly laughed. “A demon and a demon slayer, slaying a demon together,” he remarked.

Natsu grinned. “This oughtta be a piece of cake.” Inside, though, he was trembling. How many more times would he have to fight someone who could control human bodies?

“A demon, a demon slayer, and a princess,” Lucy corrected from behind them. Natsu whirled around to see her in the doorway. “Or should I take on the Dowager Queen with Mira instead?”

As if on cue, Mira cried out sharply. She lay crumpled in a ball, trembling with pain, and the demon called Kyouka sauntered toward them. “Oh? Princess Heartfilia, what a pleasant surprise. It’s been a while.”

“I’d say I was surprised to find out you two were demons, but I’d hate to be a liar,” Lucy said back, her voice dripping with the kind of fake pleasantness elite people always had. It was a little jarring to hear it from Lucy’s mouth, but at the same time, he made him giddy to hear the arrogance in her tone.  _ Damn right, Lucy, you show these demons who’s boss! _

“Too bad you just missed Seilah,” Kyouka said, looking over at the transformation taking place. “She would’ve loved to see you again.”

“Yes, what a shame,” Lucy drawled. “Though I must say, it seems she’s been letting herself go lately,” she said as Seilah finally reached her Etherious form. Her true demonic form was a strange looking creature, still humanoid but very large and misshapen. A terrible aura seemed to surround her, and it sent Natsu into shivers.

If she heard it, Seilah didn’t react to Lucy’s snide remark at all. With trance-like focus, she struck at Gray, Natsu, and Lucy with incredible force. She alone managed to occupy all three of them, enough that Kyouka just stood by and watched as Mira continued to whimper in pain behind her.

“Gray, go after Kyouka. I don’t think she can handle multiple at once, or else she’d be attacking with Seilah right now.”

“But—”

“Mira needs help. Lucy and I have this.”

“Don’t blame me when you get your ass kicked. Hey Lucy, take care of this idiot.”

“I can take care of myself,” Natsu snapped, right as Seilah punched him square in the face. Did she time that on purpose? And that hurt!

Gray took a moment to laugh before doing just as Natsu suggested. With Kyouka occupied, it seemed like Mira’s pain was starting to subside, and the fire in her eyes was relit. Satisfied she would be okay now that she had help, he refocused on Seilah.

Seilah’s Etherious form was already a handful with three of them against her, but with only two, it was positively overwhelming. Natsu’s attacks didn’t even seem to faze her. He could punch and kick with all his strength, but even the full force of his blows didn’t move her. At least she wasn’t trying to knock down the walls anymore, so everyone outside would be safe so long as they managed to defeat her. But defeating an Etherious demon was a tall order, especially without Gray’s demon-slaying magic to assist them.

Natsu muttered a string of curses to distract himself from the pain of one of Seilah’s blows. He had to think up a strategy, but this new fighting style of Seilah’s was relentless, not giving him enough time to think, or even breathe. Demon particles swirled around them, and Natsu tried his best to avoid them as he remembered Silver advising, but it was difficult. He liked it better when she was just throwing around debris instead of deadly toxins. Maybe awakening her Etherious form had been a bad idea after all.

But it was too late for regrets, and they’d have to face this side of her eventually anyway. He and Lucy had singlehandedly defeated a member of Tartarus before, and they could do it again.

“I can’t find a weakness to exploit,” Lucy said, standing by Natsu and catching her breath for a moment. “We need more manpower.”

“So does Mira.”

“I know, and Gray can take care of the other one. He’s a demon slayer, he’ll be fine. But we need some extra help.”

“We can’t! She can take over anyone who doesn’t have demons in them! You shouldn’t even be in here!”

Natsu immediately wished he hadn’t said that, because despite her sudden personality shift, it seemed Seilah could still hear what they were saying. And he’d just told her that Lucy, unlike him and Mira and Gray, was a perfect target.

Sure enough, Lucy stiffened, trembling as if fighting her own body. She doubled over, coughing violently.

“As if I’d let you!” she rasped, pulling out her keys. “Open, Gate of the Twins! Gemini!”

Gemi and Mini came flying through the gate, and immediately seemed to know what was expected of them. They transformed into the spitting image of Lucy in her usual uniform and began attacking Seilah with their duplicate of Lucy’s whip. Meanwhile, the real Lucy stood back and summoned another spirit, and then a third.

“Lucy!” he cried, seeing her struggling to maintain the gates while fighting Seilah’s telekinesis.

“I’m fine!” she shouted back. She relayed some instructions to Leo and Capricorn, which was all Natsu managed to see before he had to return his attention to Seilah.

“Don’t get distracted,” Gemini said sternly. The resemblance to Lucy really was eerily exact.

“If Lucy gets taken down, you’re gone, too,” Natsu said. “Happy, where are you?”

“Here, Natsu!” Happy said, flying over from where he was waiting for a chance to help.

“Gemini, will Lucy be able to hold your gates from outside?”

Gemini’s face lit up. “Right! Happy can take her out of Seilah’s reach!”

“Already on it,” Happy said, flying to Lucy and swooping her up into the air. Lucy’s eyes widened in surprise as she was whisked up toward the window Natsu and Happy had entered through.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Seilah growled, sending a wave of demon particles on their trail. A wall of light sent them bouncing back.

“Unfortunately, I can’t let you do that,” Loke said, holding his wrist.

Capricorn stood next to him. “We got your instructions loud and clear, Lucy. We’ll take care of this. Just keep our gates open for a few more minutes.”

And with that, Lucy was through the window and outside the barrier, free from Seilah’s control. In an instant, Gemini seemed to gain strength, bolstered by a boost in magic power from Lucy.

“It’s common knowledge among nobility that Bosco’s princess will fly off the handle when the Dowager Queen is concerned,” Gemini said as if talking to themselves. “Lucy herself got a punch in the face once for a seemingly innocuous comment. If the Dowager Queen is in trouble, Seilah will soon follow. How long will you be able to focus on fighting, Your Highness?”

Gemini’s words were effective immediately. Seilah’s eyes strayed toward where Kyouka was surrounded by Mira, Gray, Loke, and Capricorn all at once, and obviously struggling.

“Madam!” Seilah shouted in distress.

“Silence!” Kyouka snapped. “Why don’t you defeat them already? I’ve lent you my power and you’re squandering it! Is it not enough strength? How much more must I enhance you before you can even crush a single bug?”

“Lent me…” Seilah turned back to Natsu and Gemini with a glare. “I even have the blessings of Madam Kyouka’s curse, so how you are still standing?”

“Wait, you’re powered up somehow?” Natsu said.

Gemini grinned even wider at this. “So you’re the reason Her Majesty is struggling. Her curse is strong, but even she can only use so much at a time. She used so much curse power on you and you’re still so disappointing.”

“Shut up!” Seilah screamed, lashing out at Gemini, who dodged.

“Are you sure you can be playing around like this? The Dowager Queen is defenseless in front of four powerful mages, all thanks to you. None of us here can be controlled by your curses, and you can’t even beat us with enhanced strength. To me it seems like you’re just a burden on Her Majesty.”

As if on cue, Kyouka let out a sharp cry when a slice of Loke’s light slashed her arm.

“Madam Kyouka!” Seilah cried, immediately shifting out of Etherious form and lunging toward Kyouka.

Kyouka let out a long-suffering sigh. “Really, Seilah? Very well. I’ll take care of the rest.” Kyouka stretched out her hand and Seilah’s body was pulled toward it. The demon particles Seilah was controlling centered back around Seilah’s body, and Seilah was absorbed into them, dissolving into a black cloud that disappeared into the surface of Kyouka’s skin.

Kyouka took a deep breath. “Much better,” she said. “Now I can enter my Etherious form. I must warn you; as an Etherious, my curse’s power is limitless.”

Compared to Seilah’s transformation into an Etherious, Kyouka’s was much shorter and less dramatic of a change. 

And the second the transformation completed, Natsu doubled over in pain.

It was like nothing he’d ever experienced. His body was frozen stiff, but on the inside he could feel tremors of pain pushing for a release. Was this how she tortured Erza? Is this what Erza had to endure alone? The thoughts pushed him to open his eyes and stand up, however painful and however difficult. He couldn’t let Erza experience this a second time. Kyouka had to be defeated, and now.

“I’m going back,” Gemini said, their voice strained. “Natsu, good luck. Lucy’s counting on you.”

“Wait,” Natsu said, grabbing Gemini’s wrist. “Encourage me. Say what Lucy would say.”

Gemini smiled mischievously for a moment. Then they bent over and gave Natsu a peck on the cheek. “Don’t disappoint me, lover boy,” they said.

Natsu snorted. “That’s not Lucy-like at all.”

Lucy’s body popped out of existence, replaced by Gemini’s usual form. 

Gemi: “If you want to hear something from her…”

Mini: “...hear it from the real thing when you’re done.” 

Then the spirit disappeared in a flash of light.

“At least tell me what Lucy’s plan was before you go, yeesh,” he said aloud. But he had an inkling of what she had in mind, and Lucy was counting on him to follow through.

Natsu took a moment to analyze the situation with Kyouka. Due to the advantage of numbers, the Fairy Tail mages weren’t taking much physical damage, but it didn’t look like Kyouka was much fazed by their magic either. Then there was the immense pain that made it hard for Natsu to even focus his vision. If he tried to join the fray now, he’d probably just end up hitting one of his own comrades.

“Clear out!” he shouted.

Gray and Mira didn’t hear him, too focused on the battle. But Loke and Capricorn both paused before disappearing in a flash of stardust, and  _ that _ got the others’ attention.

“Back off!” Natsu yelled to them. Even Kyouka stared at him in confusion. Natsu just grinned. “This one’s mine.”

Though they both looked skeptical, they seemed to understand that there was a method to this because Mira immediately sprouted demon wings and flew off with Gray in tow before Kyouka could stop them from leaving. Now only Natsu was left.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Kyouka said. “It seems that the barrier preventing demons from leaving has been released. One little insect isn’t enough to stop me.”

“Even if that insect is the ‘END’ you’re looking for?” Natsu said, grimacing as the pain slowly intensified. Kyouka’s eyes widened.

Everything became black for a moment, and Natsu realized his vision had been blinded. Could Kyouka do that, too? Panic rose in the back of his throat as he tried desperately to sense the world around him.

Something touched his right arm and he pulled back violently, lighting the air around him on fire as he did so. He could feel his arm burning.

“I see…” Kyouka said. Natsu paid close attention to the source of her voice, careful to keep a safe distance. “There may be truth in your statement. Are you giving yourself up as a vessel? Or is it something else? Mard Geer should know the answer to this...”

“Urano Metria!”

Relief washed through Natsu at the sound of Lucy’s voice echoing throughout the church. A loud roar filled Natsu’s ears as the church came tumbling down around them. His vision returned, and the pain disappeared. Kyouka stood in the center of a pillar of light, screaming as her Etherious form was stripped away by immense celestial power. He had thought it many times before, but he was  _ really _ glad he wasn’t Lucy’s enemy.

The spell ended. Natsu held his breath, then let it out when Kyouka fell to the ground unconscious. Lucy’s spell had done the trick. Like the other Tartarus demons before her, Kyouka’s body crumbled and mixed with the dust kicked up by the collapsing church.

Wingbeats announced Mira’s swift return. “Natsu! That demonic power just now—”

“You flaming idiot, do you have a death wish, or...”

“Natsu, are you okay? Did my spell hit you?”

“—was that END? It felt like nothing I’ve ever—”

“...do you  _ want _ me to kill you? You’re the last person who should be…”

“Oh gosh, you got hit didn’t you? Are you okay? Natsu, look at me.”

Natsu opened his mouth to tell them all to shut up and speak one at a time, but he found that no sound came out. His body suddenly felt tired. He blinked slowly as the world seemed to tilt. The last thing he saw was Happy’s worried expression before his eyes closed and he slipped into darkness.


	31. Chapter 31

A peek of sunlight shone on Natsu’s eyes, waking him. His eyes squinted open.

He was in his house. There was a gap in the roof through which he could see blue skies; he’d have to get that patched.

He sat up straight. It was afternoon. He was in his home. His wounds were tended to. But last he remembered, Lucy was casting Urano Metria. He was pretty sure it had defeated Kyouka? If he was in his own bed, that was proof enough. That is, if it wasn’t all a dream.

Footsteps approached the bedroom. When Natsu turned to meet Lucy’s eyes, she lit up in a smile.

“Natsu! You’re awake!” She rushed over to his side with the glass of water she held in her hand. “Are you all right? Here, drink this.” Natsu took it gratefully, and downed the whole thing in one gulp. “Wendy said you just needed sleep to replenish your energy, but I was still worried. Is your body okay?”

Natsu stretched out his arms, testing them. Not even a hint of soreness. “All good,” he said, grinning.

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods. Don’t scare me like that!”

“Hey, it was  _ your _ spell. And I knew what I was getting into.”

“Sorry about that, by the way,” Lucy said. “It’s good that you figured out what I was planning, but I wish you could’ve found a way out first. Or even if we could’ve defeated them by some other method.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Natsu said. “Dragons are strong, but even they’re tiny compared to the stars.”

“I’m just glad the stars were enough for those demons. After seeing even you and Mira struggling to defeat them…”

“Seilah was annoying, but we could’ve beaten her just fine. It was Kyouka who was the real pain.”

“Literally,” Lucy said, and Natsu snorted when he realized his accidental pun.

“They’re over with now. Is Erza okay?”

“Yup, she’s fine. Same as ever. She was out of it for a bit, but everyone worked really hard to cheer her up, and she was back to normal in no time.”

“That’s good. I hate seeing her look weak. It doesn’t suit her.”

“Everyone’s weak sometimes.”

“Being voluntarily vulnerable and being worn out by PTSD-triggering torture are two very different kinds of weak.”

“True. I guess we shouldn’t quibble over semantics.”

Natsu had no idea what “quibble” or “semantics” meant, but he felt like he got the drift anyway. “It might be a little late to ask this,” he said, “but I assume Happy’s with Charle? I see his vest is gone, so he must’ve come back here to get it first.”

“Yup. You just missed him, actually. He was holding a bedside vigil until you woke up, but I told him to take a break and relax a bit.”

“How long have I been out?”

Lucy laughed. “Was wondering when you’d ask. About a day. You had everyone worried. I felt so awful.”

He reached to caress her fingers. “Don’t. You saved everyone. And I’m a dragon slayer; I can take a hit.”

She frowned and leaned down to look closely in his face. “About that, are you sure you’re okay? You should rest more.”

“Nah, I’m done resting.” He pecked her on the lips and jumped up to stretch. “See? It’s like I had a long nap, that’s all.”

“But your injuries—”

“Don’t even feel ‘em.”

Lucy sighed and smiled, giving up. “All right. You should go see everyone at the guild to let them know you’re up and about. Happy should be there, too.”

He grabbed her hand. “Then hurry up, let’s go! Can’t let him worry much longer!”

 

The dull roar of people talking preceded the guild, and as they rounded the corner and the guild came into view, the volume suddenly increased as they were greeted with the sight of probably hundreds of people all crammed into Fairy Tail Square. The guild building had been hastily rebuilt, a rough imitation of its former self but still looking fairly complete, with an open door showing the bar in full operation inside. Crowds milled about carrying all sorts of construction supplies, everyone helping everyone else with the united mission of rebuilding Magnolia.

Levy seemed to be their main source of new material, writing the word for lumber over and over again for other mages to chop into proper beams. Gajeel, meanwhile, was crafting thousands of nails and screws. Mages and non-mages alike came and went carrying the supplies to construction sites around town, like a large and efficient human factory.

Behind all this, Erza was arguing with Mira over whether she should be allowed to help or continue resting, with poor Wendy trying to act as a mediator.

“Yo!” Natsu said loudly, announcing his presence. Activity paused for a moment.

“Natsu!” Mira exclaimed, forgetting all about Erza and running over. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I just had a good, long nap,” Natsu said, grinning. “How’s rebuilding going? I see the guild is almost finished.”

“We may have to pause it for the day soon,” Mira said. “We don’t want anyone to get magic deprivation sickness.”

Levy and Gajeel certainly looked worse for the wear, sweat dripping everywhere. Had they been doing this all day? And Levy had held that huge barrier yesterday, too, which must’ve taken a ton of magical energy. How were they still going?

“You too, Natsu. I’m glad to see you’re okay, but you can rest some more. We’ve got it all covered here.”

“Aww, come on, I just got here!”

Lucy’s hand touched his arm. “Just listen to Mira. Let’s find Happy and then go home. You deserve a break after everything you did yesterday. Let’s just relax and hang out. I’ll stay with you, too.”

He pouted. “All right. Where are the exceeds?”

Mira pointed them into the guild. “They should be at the bar...wait, where did Erza go? I thought I left her right th— Wendy!”

“I couldn't stop her!” Wendy cried. “I'm sorry, Mira!”

“It's fine. You stay there and keep resting; I'll go find her. Lucy, you keep Natsu in line.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

Mira muttered, “I swear, this guild doesn't know how to take care of their own damn bodies. Stupid, reckless…” She stalked off in the direction Erza had left, fuming.

They spent the rest of the day relaxing at Natsu’s cabin, steering far clear of Mirajane’s hovering tendencies. And it was just as well, because despite physically feeling all better, Natsu couldn’t keep his eyes open much longer. Magic didn’t take a lot of time to recover, but it  _ did _ take a lot of energy. A day was usually long enough to recover, but given what they’d just gone through, taking another night to rest wasn’t a bad idea.

They spent the next day fishing, a pastime Natsu hadn’t gotten to do much of lately, what with the whole “saving the world from demons” thing. Lucy expressed surprise at his deep love for it, noting that he usually liked to be much more active.

“I like my quiet moments, too,” Natsu said.

“I’m surprised you have the patience for it, though.”

“I don’t,” Natsu deadpanned. “When I actually try to catch fish, I usually end up jumping in and grabbing them myself.”

Lucy barked a loud laugh that echoed from the trees. “Of course you do.”

“Happy gets mad at me,” Natsu said with a grin.

“That’s right I do,” Happy chimed in. “Fishing is supposed to be a battle of wits between you and the fish. If you just jump in and grab them like that, where’s the fun in it? It’s all about the thrill of the hunt!”

Natsu pointed a finger. “You and I have very different ideas of what a thrilling hunt looks like, buddy,” he said.

“Poor Happy,” Lucy said, hiding a giggle behind her hand.

“Hey, I usually leave the actual fish-catching to him, unless I get a bite first. I just…get hungry sometimes, that’s all.”

“Patience, Natsu,” Happy said, closing his eyes sagely.

“I’m never patient. It’s one of my many virtues.”

“You mean vices,” Lucy said.

“I said what I meant,” Natsu said.

Lucy laughed. She stretched out and lay back in the grass, hands high above her head. “This is nice,” she said. “Relaxing like this. We haven’t had a day off this whole time. No strategy meetings, nothing. Just hanging out.”

“It won’t last for long,” Natsu said. “Mira said she sensed something from me right before you did your Urano Metria thing. That’s the last thing I remember hearing before I fainted. I’ll bet the only reason she’s not storming in here is because of Erza and them. Once they’re all better, I’m next.”

_ What is END? What does it mean that I have END within me? What will it to do my body when it awakens? What if something happens when Mira runs tests? What if this is the last full day I spend as myself? _

Lucy flicked his forehead. “Don’t think about that now,” she said. “We’ll work that out together when the time comes. For now, just enjoy our day off now that our magic is recovered.”

Natsu couldn’t completely purge such thoughts from his mind, but he was always good at distracting himself. They had roasted fish for dinner, and Happy produced the ingredients for s’mores for dessert, apparently pilfered from Levy’s stash.

“She won’t notice,” he promised. “Not for a long time, anyway.”

“If she gets mad, you’re taking full responsibility, got it?” Natsu said.

“She won’t. She’s not in the mood for chocolate these days anyway,” Happy said.

Natsu gave him a funny look. “And how do you know that?”

“Pantherlily told me,” Happy said without even looking up. “Even if she did get mad, I have secrets on her I can use as blackmail.”

“That’s not very nice, Happy,” Lucy said.

“She’s the one who wants stuff secret.”

Lucy sighed. “True.”

“I have no idea what you two are talking about,” Natsu said.

Lucy patted his shoulder. “For now, it’s for the best.”

“I’ll find out eventually. There are no secrets in Fairy Tail.”

Lucy laughed at that. “True. I know all sorts of stuff about Cana I never even wanted to know. The girls around here sure love to gossip and share what’s usually private info.”

“The boys aren’t much better,” Natsu said.

“Knowing Loki fit in as a regular guildmate around here, I’m not surprised.”

“Oh gods, Loki,” Natsu said. “He was the worst. When he and Gray teamed up, I couldn’t catch a break. I don’t know how they find out everything they do, but like I said, there are no secrets in Fairy Tail.”

Lucy glanced back at the cabin. “It’s nice you have your own place all the way out here, though. It’s far, but the privacy must be nice.”

Natsu glanced around at the surroundings of the place he called home. The forest here was peaceful. Even now after the sun had set, the darkness had a friendly feeling. Cozy and protective, but not suffocating. It was a little haven. He really did have luck finding this place out here and being able to use it as his own without anyone opposing his residency.

“It does come in handy,” Natsu said. “I’m never around much anyway, but when I am, I can escape here if I need space from that nosy bunch.”

“You say that as if you’re not one of the rowdiest of them all.”

“I’m rowdy, but I mind my own business.”

Lucy nodded. “That’s true. You wouldn’t notice things anyway. You’re kind of the oblivious type.”

“Hey!”

“It’s not a bad thing, just an observation,” Lucy said, smiling. She picked up Natsu’s hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s kind of cute.”

He flushed. Oh, they were flirting now? That was unexpected. He wasn’t anticipating her saying something like that when Happy was around to listen.

Or, wait. It was just the two of them. When did that happen?

At some point Happy had disappeared. He'd probably go complain to Charle about being a third wheel. Natsu would have to thank him for being considerate and giving him and Lucy the night alone. But that was a thought for later. Right now, Lucy’s lips were on his and it was doing strange things to his heart.

“Should we go somewhere more comfortable?” Natsu said, very aware of the fact that they were sitting on the dirt outside the cabin. It was already almost dark.

“Inside, you mean?”

Lucy’s eyes from up close were unfairly pretty.

“All I have is the hammock, though,” Natsu said.

“Good enough.”

They made their way upstairs, getting a little bit bolder with their kissing as they went. This was all new, and kind of clumsy, but it felt really nice. Even though he knew exactly why, Natsu still found himself wondering why he hadn’t done this with anyone before. He’d been missing out.

But of course, it was only this nice because it was Lucy. Lucy, whose scent and warmth and strength were all here in his arms, filling his senses, like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

The hammock rocked when they sat on it, sending them both into laughter as they lost their balance, holding onto each other for support as if that would help at all when both of them were falling sideways.

“I don’t know how you sleep in this,” Lucy said. “I’d be tempted to swing around all the time instead of sleeping.”

“Who’s to say I don’t do both?” Natsu replied.

Lucy pecked his lips. “Genius.”

“You know what would be even more genius?”

“What?”

“You kissing me again.”

“Then I must be the smartest girl in the world,” Lucy said, smirking against his lips, “because I’m way ahead of you.”

The feeling of her skin under his fingertips was addicting. He needed more of this intimacy, more of this touch that made him feel more connected to her than he had with anyone. But when his fingers trailed under her shirt, she stopped him.

“How far are we going, exactly?” she asked.

Natsu met her eyes. “Want to stop?”

“I thought you weren’t interested in this kind of thing.”

“I’m not, usually,” he said. “But it’s you, so…”  _ I want to try. Because who knows when we’ll get another chance to fool around like this?  _ “I want you,” he added. Frustratingly enough, he’d wanted her for a long time now. The unfamiliar feelings confused him, but he knew what they were. He was attracted to Lucy, in a way he never was with anybody else.

She reached up to touch his face, her fingers brushing his cheek. “Thank you. I—” She averted her gaze, blushing. “...me too.”

That was all he needed to hear. He pressed his lips back to hers with a new urgency. Clumsy as he was with these unfamiliar feelings, he trusted her. She would be the first to have his body for her own; not any demon inside of him,  _ her _ . 

But as they continued exploring each other’s bodies, he was becoming increasingly aware that this was uncharted territory. He’d never even  _ kissed _ anyone before Lucy, and now…

“You sure you’re okay?” Lucy mumbled, lips on his neck and hands on his stomach. “You feel tense.”

“I…uh…”

She pulled back to look in his eyes. “Should we stop?” she asked.

Natsu flushed beet red. He didn’t know how to answer that. It’s not that he  _ wanted _ to stop, but his insides felt shaky and anxious. And  _ right _ after he said it was okay, too. This was embarrassing. He wanted to  _ so badly,  _ but...

Sighing, Lucy flopped down beside him, cuddling up to his side. “This is enough,” she said.

“But what if we don’t get another—”

“Natsu. If you’re about to say we might not get another chance, I will be very cross with you. I refuse to accept that as a reason to rush into things we’re not ready for. I don’t plan to die out there, and neither should you.”

“I don’t,” he said, starting to feel a little better already.

Lucy settled more comfortably in his arms. “Besides,” she said, “it’s not like I can’t live without getting some dick. Give me a little more credit than that.”

It took a moment for her words to settle in Natsu’s brain before he burst out laughing.

“W-what?” Lucy said, embarrassed.

“Princess Lucy Heartfilia just said, ‘getting some dick,’” Natsu said, howling with laughter. “Fairy Tail must really be rubbing off on you. So not lady-like.”

“Shut up, I’m not a princess right now,” Lucy mumbled, pressing her face into Natsu’s chest.

“Nope, now you’re the Celestial Spirit, Lucy of Fairy Tail.”

“You got that right,” Lucy said, planting a kiss where her head rested on his chest and then trailing more kisses up to his lips.

“Ngg, shut up,” Natsu groaned.

“I didn’t say anything,” Lucy said, giggling.

“You tease,” he accused.

“Just say the word and I’ll stop.”

“Not yet.” He flipped them over so he was on top, sending Lucy into another round of delighted giggling as the hammock rocked. “Two can play this game.”

He peppered her cheeks with kisses as her hands roamed his torso and tangled themselves in his hair. Sweetly, almost innocently, they kissed as if playing, until Natsu felt like his cheeks would burst from all this damn smiling he was doing.

And when they settled into a comfortable embrace, he hardly dared to open his eyes and be struck by her beauty all over again. So, just like that, he drifted off to sleep with the most beautiful woman in the world held securely in his arms. He was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That last scene has been written since forever. I'm never quite satisfied with how I write these kinds of scenes, but it'll have to do. It was kind of a personally important scene for me to write at the time, and besides, it provides a good setup for what happens next...


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a job! Only part-time, but it's in my field so I'm happy. I spent a few weeks adjusting to my new schedule but I think I've figured things out now. Back to writing!

A sudden blast shook the house. Chunks of fire and splintered wood rained down on them. Lucy shrieked, covering her head, and Natsu shielded her from getting burned as best he could. They were falling. Debris hit them from all sides.

_ Thud _ .

There was a moment of quiet. The only sounds were of crackling fire and some debris shifting. Natsu lifted himself off of Lucy, removing the planks of wood that covered them and bringing the both of them into fresh air.

Everything was smoldering. Natsu looked around and found his clothes intact nearby, but no sign of Lucy’s. No time to look for them, he handed Lucy his cloak.

“Here. Put this on.”

Lucy stood up and shrugged the garment around her body in lieu of her usual blouse. “Someone tried to kill us in our sleep,” she said.

“No shit. Explosions. Smells like something Jackal would do, but…”

“…but we already defeated him and he vanished,” Lucy finished. “Maybe he wasn’t dead after all?”

“I could say the same for you two,” came a voice from the trees behind them.

Natsu whirled around and saw a figure he recognized. It  _ was _ Jackal.

Natsu didn’t know how Jackal was still alive, but he didn’t have the luxury to care right now. He had to focus. They couldn’t be caught off-guard a second time.

Jackal looked between the two of them still waking up, a smirk on his face. “Was I interrupting something?”

“Fuck off,” Natsu growled, tightening the belt around his waist.

“So I  _ did _ interrupt something. Well, not that I care. I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I’ll kill you both this time around.”

Natsu sneered. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Let’s make this quick,” Lucy said, whipping out her keys. “Open the Gate of the Lion, Leo!”

In a burst of light, Loke appeared, posing flashily as usual. “Hello, Lucy, how nice to see you this early in the mo— Wait, why are you wearing— And isn’t this the guy you killed last time?”

“Apparently we were wrong about that,” Lucy said, narrowing her eyes at Jackal.

Jackal laughed. “You can destroy our bodies, but so long as our souls are intact, they can be revived back in Crocus. Sorry to keep you waiting, but it took some time.” He outstretched his hands, claws flashing in the sunlight. “Now, time to send you both to hell.”

“Fat chance,” Natsu said, jumping just in time to dodge the barrage of explosions that hurtled toward Lucy and him. He sucked it all up and wiped his lips. The fire from Jackal’s bombs was as bitter as last time. He smacked his mouth in disgust.

“What will you do,  _ princess _ ?” Jackal said. “Your little mermaid can’t come out where there’s no water.”

“I don’t need Aquarius for the likes of you anymore,” Lucy said.

“Then I can just blow you to pieces!”

Jackal unleashed another string of explosions. Natsu ignored the bombs aimed as his partner, knowing Lucy could take care of herself. Words were no longer needed for them to know what each needed to do. Natsu would attack directly to exhaust the enemy’s stamina, and Lucy supported from behind with constant physical damage. They fought like clockwork, only much more flexible and far, far more deadly.

Lucy employed a similar tactic as with Seilah, bringing out Taurus to aid Natsu in the fray. Loke used his light for long-range attacks, Taurus swung his axe from nearby, Natsu stayed up close in punching range, and Lucy used her whip to pull her spirits out of the way whenever Natsu failed to intercept a bomb. The fight dragged on, neither side able to completely overpower the other. But they knew from experience that they would be able to wear him down eventually with so many of them fighting at once.

“He’s getting weak,” Loke said, a whisper in Natsu’s ear that disappeared the second Jackal turned Natsu into a bomb again. Natsu swallowed the explosion. He’d gotten the message.

Taurus and Natsu both backed off for a moment, giving Natsu a moment to breath and prepare his attack. He saw Loke on the other side of Jackal, hand on his wrist and ready to unleash a joint attack from behind.

“I know all your tricks,” Jackal sneered, claws curled. “Give up on any surprise attacks.”

“You might know all our tricks, but if you can’t avoid them, then it doesn’t matter.” Natsu let his body fill with magic, a warm burning in his chest. Then he let it explode. “Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon’s Fist!”

“Regulus Impact!”

“Tension Max!”

“Lucy Kick!”

Caught between physical attacks on all sides, Jackal’s body collapsed with a loud crunch. Natsu felt Jackal’s bones snapping with the impact. Him and Lucy alone hadn’t been enough to debilitate him last time, but with four simultaneous hits after a drawn-out physical melee, even Jackal’s extra-strong demon body couldn’t hold up. Without a word, Jackal once again began to glow, ready to use his own defeat as an explosion again.

“Loke, Taurus, gates closed!” Lucy shouted. “Natsu!”

Natsu grabbed onto her and clung as she swung them away from Jackal by her whip. Natsu’s feet touched ground first, and he shoved Lucy to the forest floor just in time for the explosion to hit his back.

As the dust cleared, they stared at each other, sweaty and out of breath.

“Did we do it?” Lucy breathed.

“I think so.”

“Thank the gods.”

Natsu sat back on his feet, then let himself topple backwards into the underbrush, exhausted. “They really won’t let us rest, will they?”

“Thank the gods the four of us were enough to take him down.”

“We’ve gotten stronger.”

“Experience will do that.”

Letting out a long breath, Natsu heaved himself to his feet and extended a hand to help Lucy up as well. She smiled and reached for it, but stopped. She stared at his right arm in horror.

“Natsu…”

Natsu looked down. His arm was covered in black markings, the same ones that had appeared briefly when he held the END book. Only now, they were appearing without the book, and they weren’t going away.

“Natsu, your arm…”

“But I don’t  _ feel _ any different,” Natsu said, gingerly touching the markings. It felt just like normal skin. The subtle awareness he had of END hadn’t grown any stronger either; if not for the tattoo-like patterns, he wouldn’t have noticed anything. “Huh.”

“For now, we’ll wrap it up,” Lucy said, heading back to the ruins of the shack. “We’ll just say you injured it during the fight we just had and we bandaged it as a precaution.”

“Will they actually fall for that?” Natsu wondered.

“Who knows? But if we go out in public, it’ll need to be covered. Ordinary citizens will get frightened if they know what this means. And the guild will be swarming with people due to rebuilding.”

“We should probably keep it a secret from the others, too.”

Lucy looked at him, brows furrowed. “Are you sure? Keeping them in the dark about this sort of thing is a bit…”

“They’ll just needlessly worry,” Natsu said.

She still frowned.

She found his first aid kit among the rubble and pulled out a roll of bandages to cover the markings. As she wound the bandage around his arm, hands moving expertly, she asked, “If I weren’t the one to see it first, would you have told me?”

“About the markings?” Natsu said. He scratched the back of his neck with his free arm. “I…I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “Probably not. You’d worry most of all and— ow!” Her fist pressed to the guild mark on his shoulder, and he could feel that she was trembling.

“You idiot. Trying to go through this all alone.”

Natsu sighed. “I am an idiot, aren’t I?” he said with a grin.

“A huge one. This affects all of us, you know. It’s not a burden you can shoulder alone. I know you hate relying on others, but let’s not be unreasonable about it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Natsu pouted. He didn’t like being lectured, even if it was from Lucy. Even worse, she was right. As always.

He watched her methodically finish up wrapping his arm. “You know,” he said, “I’m really an idiot. I don’t usually think before I act, and even when I do think, I end up thinking the wrong thing. I don’t realize I’m being stupid until it’s too late.”

“You’re not stupid,” Lucy said.

“Easy for you to say; you got a full education, so you’re smarter than even the people who  _ did _ go to primary school.”

“I’m book-smart and upper-society-smart, but you’re street-smart. And you’re a genius at fighting. You can just throw yourself freely into a melee, not knowing anything about your opponents beforehand, and still come out on top. My style of fighting relies entirely on pre-planned strategy and using my spirits as allies, so I envy you a bit.”

“I guess that’s why we make great partners,” Natsu said. “We balance each other.”

“We  _ are _ a really compatible team,” she said.

“Thanks, Lucy.”

Lucy smiled. “Glad that didn’t last too long. Now let’s go tell the others about what happened. Jackal said they can regenerate; we might not have a lot of time before Seilah and Kyouka come back. How long’s it been since the first time we beat Jackal?”

“Shit. Well, we can take ‘em. We already beat ‘em once.”

“Perhaps so, but I wouldn’t want to fight those two again.”

Natsu thought of Erza lying unconscious on the bar in the middle of Fairy Tail’s rubble. He shook the image from his head. “I don’t like them. They’re sadists.”

“And they’ll revive if we don’t hurry and act. We’ve been waiting to see what Tartarus will do, but we might not have time. First Seilah and Kyouka, and now this… Everything leads back to Crocus. If we don’t get rid of where they regenerate, we’ll never see the end of Tartarus.”

“You’re right,” Natsu said. “But uhh, first you should probably put on your own clothes.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.”

 

They took the back entrance into the guild and found Gajeel waiting for them.

“Why do you two smell like Jackal?”

“Long story,” Natsu said, a little grateful for Jackal in this moment because if not for him, Natsu probably would’ve smelled even more like Lucy than normal and Gajeel would’ve noticed. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with heckling about their relationship right now. “Where’s Mira?”

“Taking care of citizens out front. She knows you’re here. I almost raised the alarm when I smelled the Jackal on you two, y’know.”

“Sorry about that,” Natsu said sarcastically. “Kinda can’t help it given he just blew up my entire house.”

“Well shit.”

The door to the bar burst open, and Mira stood in the doorway with wide eyes and heavy breath. She looked around frantically, then her eyes landed on Natsu. She relaxed. But only barely.

“Natsu. So it’s just you. Gajeel said you two were here smelling like Jackal, but I wasn’t expecting...” Mira’s eyes trailed down to the bandages around his arm.

“Uh. Yeah. Is Gramps around?”

“No, he’s out helping with repairs around town. I’ll get Warren to call him.” With a swish of her skirt, she was back through the door.

“What else happened?” Gajeel asked.

Lucy glanced at Natsu. “We might as well tell everyone,” she said. “It’s up to you.”

Gajeel stared for a moment, then started to smirk as he looked between them. “Wait, don’t tell me—”

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s wrong,” Natsu said quickly.

That only made him grin wider. “How do you know what I’m thinking?” Gajeel said.

“Your face got uglier.”

“Why you—”

“No fighting,” Mira said, coming back through the door. “Let’s go wait for Master in his office. He should be here shortly.”

“Gajeel, want to get your mind out of the gutter and come join us?” Lucy said.

“Really, what is it?”

“We’ll talk about it when we get up there,” Lucy said. She grabbed Natsu’s hand and squeezed it tight. He squeezed back.

They waited silently in Makarov’s dusty office, just the four of them. The whole room smelled like freshly cut wood, and it was missing all the usual huge texts and assorted knicknacks Makarov kept on his bookshelves. Makarov was used to people destroying things in the guild so his items all undoubtedly had protective charms on them, but he hadn’t gotten around to putting them back where they belonged. It gave the room a strange, foreign feeling.

After several minutes, the door swung open and Makarov strode in. He didn’t even stop for pleasantries before hopping up on his chair and folding his hands on the desk.

“So? Let’s see it.”

“Don’t beat around the bush, do you?” Natsu grumbled as he unwrapped the cloth around his right arm. He let the bandages fall away.

Gajeel cursed under his breath at the sight of the dark tattoo-like markings creeping up Natsu’s forearm. Mira just stared, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Makarov looked at her. “What do you think, Mirajane?”

“Well, it’s not possession,” she said, her eyes taking on an eerie glow. “It seems to be a spell of some sort, but it’s not quite a curse. Black magic, perhaps?”

“Perhaps. I’m not familiar with black magic spells, I’m afraid,” Makarov said.

“It feels like…” Mira stopped and frowned. “I don’t know how to explain this, but say you’re carrying something heavy in a bag whose bottom has started to fray, so there are only threads left holding it all together. These markings are those threads.”

Lucy leaned forward. “You’re saying these markings are a spell keeping END contained?”

“I believe so,” Mira said. “It’s what my senses are telling me. Something’s there, and that’s the only barrier holding it back. I felt it the other day, too, though it disappeared as quickly as it came. Whatever’s been stopping me from sensing the demonic presence is being worn away, and that’s what we see now.”

“Natsu,” Makarov said.

Natsu couldn’t look up. He was shaking. Everything felt fuzzy and distant, as if his own mind was obscured by a thick fog.

“Are you sure you don’t know anything about your identity prior to being taken in by Igneel?” Makarov asked.

Natsu nodded numbly. He’d been an infant when Igneel found him abandoned in the woods and decided to save him. That’s all he knew. That’s all Igneel had ever told him, and until now, that’s all he thought he needed to know.

Lucy took both his hands to pull him to face toward her. He tried to pull away his right hand, but she only held tighter.

“I told you, whatever this is, we’re here for you. We’ll figure this out together. Okay? No matter what, you’re still Natsu.”

Mira nodded. “The demonic energy is a different entity from Natsu himself, though they seem to share a body. It’s hard to explain, but Natsu is still very much human. He just...might also be a demon? I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before.”

Gajeel waved his hand in the air to dismiss the conversation. “He just got thrown the curveball of a lifetime. Give him a minute to recover first,” he said.

“I’m okay,” Natsu said, the words sounding hollow and distant in his own ears.

“I’ve been too occupied by the rebuilding to discuss this with you yet, but I talked to Gray after you fainted, while Lucy was taking you back to the guild for treatment,” Mira said. “You guys haven’t talked about the whole END thing yet, right?”

Lucy nodded. “You’re right, Magnolia was attacked before we could resolve anything. How is he?”

“Oh, he’s fine. A little at a loss, but he said he’d help with whatever we needed to do to figure out Natsu’s case. He just needs some space to come to terms with everything that happened in Seven. But that’s not why I bring him up.”

“Then what is it?” Lucy asked.

“That moment when I felt END, that was before Kyouka disappeared. You sent us out, but only moments later,  _ that _ happened.”

Natsu thought he knew what she was getting at. “It wasn’t on purpose, if that’s what you two thought,” he said.

“Then what happened?”

“I was...taunting her, I guess. I told her that I’m END to stop her from leaving the church, and I guess she...checked? I felt her touch my arm and it felt like I was burning. She started saying some stuff about it, but I don’t remember what. My memory of the end of that battle is a bit fuzzy,” he said with a sheepish glance at Lucy.

“And that’s when I sensed you,” Mira concluded.

“Do you think you’re END?” Makarov asked.

A bitter feeling rose in Natsu’s chest at the implication. “Of course not. It was a lie. I know I’m related enough that it would give her pause, but I was bluffing about actually  _ being _ END.” He lost steam a bit and looked at his lap. “At least, I thought I was.”

“Hey, aren’t we missing an important detail here?” Gajeel said. 

Everybody looked at him.

“That demon lady touched him, and END came out for a second, or its aura did. And it didn’t consume her. She was still talking. Well, she was until Lucy went in and nuked the place.”

“They were harmless this morning, too,” Lucy added. “I don’t know at what point they appeared, but none of us noticed it, not even Jackal.”

“The point is Mira should be able to do stuff with the markings without being in danger,” Gajeel said.

Mira’s face lit up. “You’re right. That gives us a lot more options for investigating.”

“Pardon me,” Makarov interrupted, “but what’s this about Jackal?”

Lucy recounted the events of the morning. Makarov listened with a grave expression. As she finished her story, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hmm. This complicates things even further.” He twirled a pen in his hand, thoughtful. “Mira, can you find Erza and bring her here? It sounds like we need to revise our strategy.”


End file.
